 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | September 2005 
US Senate to Begin Roberts Hearings Monday
 Jesse J. Holland - Associated Press
| | Supreme Court nominee John Roberts leaves his house in Chevy Chase, Md. President Bush's decision to nominate John Roberts as the nation's 17th Supreme Court chief justice raises the stakes of the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings, with lawmakers now asked to pass judgment on a man who could lead the nation's highest court for decades. (Photo: Kevin Wolf) |
The Senate will begin confirmation hearings next Monday for John Roberts to be the Supreme Court's chief justice, one week after President Bush selected him to replace the late William H. Rehnquist as the 17th leader of the nation's highest court.
Bush urged senators to confirm Roberts before the court session resumes Oct. 3 and said he was considering many candidates for filling a second vacancy. "The list is wide open," Bush said.
The president also sent a written notice to the Senate nominating Roberts as chief justice and withdrawing his earlier nomination as an associate justice to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor. She is retiring but remaining on the bench until her replacement is confirmed.
Senate leaders made the hearings announcement Tuesday as Rehnquist's body lay in repose across the street at the Supreme Court. Roberts, a former Rehnquist clerk, helped carry the flag-draped casket into the building for public viewing.
Roberts was supposed to begin his confirmation hearings as the replacement for the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor on Tuesday, but the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was canceled after Rehnquist's death and Bush's decision to elevate the 50-year-old Roberts to the top spot instead.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said senators on the panel would begin their opening statements at noon on Monday. Roberts would be likely to make his opening statement late that afternoon after being introduced by Indiana Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh, and Virginia Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record).
Roberts is likely to begin facing questions from senators starting on Tuesday.
"It is our expectation that we will be able to complete the hearings that week," Specter said.
With the hearings pushed back a week, Democrats now are refusing to guarantee when the full Senate will give Roberts a final vote. As for the opening of the hearings, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said, "We all agree that Monday should be the day."
Even with the delay, Republicans say they will conclude Roberts' confirmation before Oct. 3, the start of the new Supreme Court session.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he expects the committee to finish its vote on Sept. 22, and he plans to bring the nomination to the Senate floor on Monday, Sept. 26 and finish before that Friday.
"Roberts has the skill, the mind, the intellect and the temperament to lead the Supreme Court for decades to come," Frist said. "The Senate will complete floor action on his nomination before the session begins."
Republicans say quick movement is possible because Roberts is the same judge who seemed to be headed for confirmation as an associate justice before Rehnquist died Saturday.
Democrats, however, said bumping Roberts up to chief justice instead of having him replace O'Connor means tougher scrutiny of Rehnquist's former Supreme Court clerk.
"Substantive questions will be asked," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the committee. "I would hope all senators, Republicans and Democrats, would ask very substantive questions because this is, after all, a lifetime position."
No Democratic senator has yet publicly opposed Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court, with several praising the federal appeals court judge when he was set to be O'Connor's replacement. Assuming no more than a handful of Republicans would fail to vote for Roberts, the only way Democrats might stop his confirmation would be through a politically bruising filibuster fight.
After turning twice to Roberts, Bush faces increasing pressure to name a woman or a minority, and to replace O'Connor's swing vote with a more reliable conservative.
The president said he knew that saying the list was "wide open" would create speculation about whom he would choose, and he glanced playfully at Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who has been often mentioned as a possible nominee. If named, Gonzales would become the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court.
Specter said he would like the president to name a woman.
"It is desirable to have a balance on the court. And two women, I think, are a minimum," Specter said. "My preference would be to see that kind of diversity maintained, but I don't believe anybody ought to tie the president's hands."
Liberal groups are trying to drum up support to fight Roberts' ascension to chief justice, after working for weeks in an effort to persuade senators to oppose him as an associate justice.
"We must oppose his confirmation as chief justice even more strenuously because, in that post, he would have even greater power to shape the direction of our courts, our laws and our lives," said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
Associated Press reporter Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.
On the Net: Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov
Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us