Leahy to vote for Roberts

[LRB]

Leahy to vote for Roberts

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday he will vote to confirm John Roberts for chief justice of the United States after leading lawmakers met with President Bush to discuss candidates for the other high court vacancy.

The announcement by veteran Sen. Patrick Leahy came amid virtually unprecedented executive-legislative branch jockeying over not one, but two high court openings, seats left vacant by the death of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Roberts' confirmation was virtually assured even before Leahy's announcement. The Vermont senator's decision, made public shortly after he and three other leading senators met privately with Bush at the White House to discuss candidates for O'Connor's place on the bench, came on the eve of the Judiciary panel's vote on whether to favorably recommend Roberts' confirmation.

Four leading senators including Leahy earlier floated several names to Bush for O'Connor's job, but the president kept his own list to himself at a White House breakfast. O'Connor has said she'll remain on the court until her replacement is seated.

Leahy said he still has some concerns about Roberts. "But in my judgment, in my experience, but especially in my conscience I find it is better to vote yes than no," he said. "Judge Roberts is a man of integrity. I can only take him at his word that he does not have an ideological agenda."

With 10 Republicans and eight Democrats, Roberts is assured of getting a majority of the committee's support before moving on to the full Senate for confirmation next week.

Moments after Leahy spoke, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who also serves on the Judiciary Committee, announced he would vote against Roberts.

"There is clear and convincing evidence that John Roberts is the wrong choice for chief justice," Kennedy said. "I oppose the nomination, and I urge my colleagues to do the same."

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who lost the presidential election to Bush last year, also announced his opposition.

Leahy was the first of the Judiciary Democrats to announce his decision and only the fourth of the 44 Senate Democrats to do so. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced Tuesday that he would vote against Roberts, but said he would not support an attempt by Democrats to filibuster the nominee.

Said Leahy: "I respect those who have come to different conclusions, and I readily acknowledge the unknowable at this moment, that perhaps they are right and I am wrong. Only time will tell. All of us will vote this month but only later will we know if Judge Roberts proves to be the kind of chief justice he says he would be, if he truly will be his own man."

Bush, senators discuss next nominee
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, talking to reporters outside the West Wing after the meeting with Bush, said he thinks the next nomination will be more raucous than the confirmation process for Roberts.

Specter said he suggested the president delay picking O'Connor's replacement until more is known about the judicial philosophy of Roberts.

"The president was noncommittal," the Pennsylvania Republican said. "The body language was not very positive."

The senators did not identify the prospective justices they suggested to the president. Among candidates widely mentioned are: federal appellate judges Priscilla Richman Owen, Edith Brown Clement, Edith Holland Jones, Emilio Garza, Edward Charles Prado, Alice Batchelder, Karen Williams, Janice Rogers Brown, J. Michael Luttig, J. Harvie Wilkinson, Michael McConnell and Samuel Alito.

"I believe the next nomination is going to be a great deal more contentious than the Roberts' nomination," Specter said. "I say that because, bubbling just below the surface was a lot of frustration in the hearing that we just concluded."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said he urged the president to announce his decision within the next 10 days or so. He advised Bush not to embrace Specter's idea for him to delay the second nomination and also said that if Bush's second nomination came quickly, the Senate would be able to handle that nomination in a timely fashion. "I believe we can do it by Thanksgiving, if that nomination comes quickly enough," Frist said.

Reid said the discussion with Bush was one-way. He added, however, that he thought it was a "good start," and felt as if White House counsel Harriet Miers' door was open to senators.

To some legal analysts, the stakes are higher for Bush's nominee to replace O'Connor. They say Roberts' confirmation would essentially replace one conservative vote with another. O'Connor, however, has been the deciding vote in some affirmative action, abortion, campaign finance, discrimination and death penalty cases.

During the meeting, Specter cautioned Bush that nominating Owen or Brown could prompt dissension in the Senate, according to a congressional official familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because the give-and-take there was considered confidential.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan described the meeting as "cordial" and said the president was considering a diverse list of prospective nominees. Asked whether the president agrees with Specter that the next nomination would be more "contentious," McClellan said the White House hopes the Senate will move forward in a "civil and dignified way."

The first Hispanic justice?
Naming the first Hispanic to the court would make history and boost GOP efforts to woo the fast-growing voting bloc.

The list of Hispanic candidates includes: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, federal appellate judges Emilio Garza and Edward Charles Prado, along with Miguel Estrada, a conservative young lawyer whose nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was thwarted by Senate Democrats. That list also includes the name of Maria Consuelo Callahan, a Hispanic from California.

Other candidates include Larry Thompson, the federal government's highest ranking black law enforcement official when he was deputy attorney general during Bush's first term, and Maura Corrigan, a member of the Michigan Supreme Court.

First lady Laura Bush reiterated in an Associated Press interview Tuesday that she hopes the president will name a woman.

Specter said he was concerned about the balance of power between Congress and the court, especially if Justice John Paul Stevens retires from the bench.

"There is a possibility of a third vacancy with Justice Stevens, that has been rumored," Specter said. "He is 85, but in good health. But if that comes in the next year -- with three new justices -- a shift in the court. And that's a problem for both the right and the left."

Specter said he has talked to O'Connor about staying on through the June term. "I talked to her and she's prepared to do that. It would be quite a sacrifice for her, but she's prepared to do it if she is asked. By next June we'll know a lot more about Judge Roberts ... than we do today."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[capitalcity]

Well duh. Roberts is bulletproof.

[dude1394]

I almost wish they would filibuster, so we could get rid of it for good. I guess Reeds/Kerry are "stuck on stupid".