Bush chooses Judge Roberts for Supreme Court

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush chose conservative
appeals court judge John Roberts on Tuesday as his first
nominee to the Supreme Court, igniting what could be a fierce
partisan clash over his drive to move the closely divided court
to the right.

With Roberts at his side, Bush appealed for a “dignified
confirmation process” and a timely vote by the full Senate –
in contrast to the drawn out battles that blocked 10 of his
most conservative nominees during his first term.

At 50 years of age, Roberts could put Bush’s conservative
stamp on the court for decades to come if he is confirmed by
the Senate to the life-time post.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he will
not “pre-judge” Roberts. “The president has chosen someone with
suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our
inquiry,” Reid said.

The choice immediately sparked controversy.

Abortion rights groups seized on a brief Roberts co-wrote
in 1990 that suggested the Supreme Court decision that
legalized abortion should be overturned. NARAL, a leading
abortion rights body, called Roberts a “divisive nominee with a
record of seeking to impose a political agenda on the courts.”

HUMAN RIGHTS

Roberts was also part of a three-judge panel that handed
Bush an important victory last Friday when it ruled that the
military tribunals of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
could proceed. The treatment of prisoners there has sparked
criticism from human rights groups and in the Arab world.

The quicker-than-expected decision on a replacement for
retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor could help the White House
deflect attention from a growing controversy over the role of
Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, in leaking a covert
CIA operative’s identity, Republican strategists said.

Bush interrupted lunch with the Australian prime minister
to telephone Roberts and tell him he wanted him for the job.

Bush made his choice despite pressure from some fellow
Republicans — and even his own wife — to name a woman or a
minority.

The White House said Bush met five potential nominees from
Thursday to Saturday, but offered the job only to Roberts, who
is white.

In a nod to his conservative base, Bush said Roberts would
“strictly apply the Constitution in laws, not legislate from
the bench.”

Roberts, who has argued before the Supreme Court 39 times,
was a former clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist and
worked in the Reagan Justice Department.

While a lawyer at Hogan & Hartson, Roberts gave $1,000 to
Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, according the
PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks money in politics.

Though he has a reputation as a moderate conservative,
liberals suspect he is more right-wing than his record
suggests.

He joined the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia in May 2003 after a protracted
confirmation fight in the Senate.

Interest groups on the right and left have been gearing up
for years for a fight over a Supreme Court vacancy. Senate
confirmation hearings are likely to begin in September, with
the court to open its next session in October.

“I have full confidence that the Senate will rise to the
occasion and act promptly on this nomination. It is important
that the newest justice be on the bench when the Supreme Court
reconvenes in October,” Bush said in his White House
announcement.

PASSED OVER

Before settling on Roberts, Bush passed over U.S. appeals
court Judge Edith Clement, who had emerged as one of the
leading female candidates, according to Republican sources.

Bush also passed over his close friend, Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales, who is Hispanic. Some Republicans had
questioned Gonzales’ conservative credentials.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, which will first consider the nomination,
complained that White House consultations with Democrats fell
short of previous administrations.

“There has been some reaching to Democrats but certainly
not to the extent we saw during the Reagan administration or
the Clinton administration,” he said.

“Consultation must be more than a one-way street,” said
Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Republicans had said Bush was leaning toward picking a
woman to replace O’Connor, the first woman on the high court
and a moderate conservative who often controlled the outcome on
issues like abortion, affirmative action and civil liberties.

Conservatives urged Bush to use the vacancy to push the
court further to the right.

Moderate Republicans urged him to choose someone who could
assume O’Connor’s role as a swing vote between the nine-member
court’s conservative and liberal wings.

It was unclear what role Roberts will play.

This nomination is unlikely to be Bush’s last.

Rehnquist is 80 and battling cancer, although he took the
unusual step of issuing a statement saying he will continue at
the court “as long as my health permits.” (Additional
reporting by Caren Bohan, Tabassum Zakaria and Thomas Ferraro)