Senate Readies For Roberts Battle

The Senate will begin confirmation hearings next Monday for John Roberts to be Supreme Court 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.

Mr. 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," Mr. Bush said.

The president also sent a written notice to the Senate nominating the 50-year-old 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.

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.

Roberts is likely to begin facing questions from senators starting on Tuesday.

Republicans say nothing has changed, that Roberts is the same well-qualified judge who seemed to be headed for confirmation as an associate justice before Rehnquist died Saturday and the president tapped Roberts for the top spot.

"The fact that he's now been elevated to chief justice shouldn't slow us down at all," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold confirmation hearings on the nominee.

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.

"Before the Senate acts on John Roberts' new nomination, we should know even more about his record, and we should know whom the president intends to propose to nominate as a replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

No Democrat has yet publicly opposed Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court, with several actually 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 Roberts' confirmation would be through a politically bruising filibuster fight, which might weaken them just as President Bush makes a new nomination to replace O'Connor.

The selection of Roberts helps Mr. Bush avoid new political problems when he already is under fire for the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina and his approval ratings in the polls are at the lowest point of his presidency.

CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen said the move would help the president on three fronts.

"It's a decision by the White House that makes sense practically, politically, and legally — a rare trifecta these days. With one deft change of direction, the president all but ensured we will have a new chief justice in place four weeks from now, when the new court term begins," Cohen said.

"At the same time, he placed Senate Democrats in a box from which they are unlikely to be able to escape. And, finally, he gave himself some room to nominate a successor to Justice O'Connor who is perhaps even more conservative than is Roberts," he added.

After turning twice to Roberts, Mr. Bush faces increasing pressure to name a woman or a minority, and to replace O'Connor's swing vote with a more reliable conservative.

Liberal groups are trying to drum up support to fight Roberts' ascension to chief justice anyway, after working weeks trying to get 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.

Like Rehnquist, Roberts is deeply conservative. O'Connor had angered conservatives with her tie-breaking votes on contentious issues like abortion restrictions, campaign finance limits, discrimination laws and religion.

The Roberts-for-Rehnquist nomination would not affect the court's balance, but Mr. Bush could force an ideological shift to the right when he replaces O'Connor. O'Connor has offered to remain on the bench until her successor is named, and the president called her Monday to say he would move quickly to find her replacement as well.

He is not expected to name a new O'Connor successor this week.

Roberts could be a conservative legal force for decades, as was Rehnquist, who served 33 years on the court, 19 of them as its leader.

There are striking similarities between the two men. Both were first in their class in law school, enjoyed reputations for brilliance and were known as good writers. As a young man, Roberts clerked for Rehnquist and the justice was one of many influences in Roberts' life and legal career.

Getting a new chief justice of Mr. Bush's choosing in place quickly avoids the scenario of having liberal Justice John Paul Stevens presiding over court sessions, leading private meetings of the justices and thereby influencing court deliberations. As the court's senior justice, Stevens would take over Rehnquist's administrative duties until a new chief is confirmed.