Roberts Vows to Judge Cases by Rule of Law

WASHINGTON — John Roberts says he would judge cases "according to the rule of law, without fear or favor" as the nation’s 17th chief justice.

After an opening day of speeches and platitudes, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are ready to test that statement. They begin grilling the conservative federal judge Tuesday on his views on the Constitution, abortion, presidential power and dozens of other issues.

"This is a confirmation proceeding … not a coronation," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. "It is a Senate Judiciary Committee’s job to ask tough questions. We are tasked by the Senate with getting a complete picture of your qualifications, your temperament and how you will carry out your duties."

Republicans will pose tough questions of their own to the 50-year-old appeals court judge and Reagan administration lawyer, picked by President Bush to succeed the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. But they will also try to block Democrats from getting too aggressive in getting Roberts to answer questions about hot-button issues.

"I want you to know that I will defend your refusal to answer any question that you believe to be improper," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who will control the questioning with his wooden gavel as committee chairman, said he won’t stop senators from asking questions because Roberts can’t be forced to answer. "He can protect himself," Specter said. "And if they’re badgering, or repetitive, or out of line, that’s the time when a chairman should intervene."

Although the questioning is expected to last for a few days, Roberts’ confirmation seems all but assured.

The hearing shifts on Tuesday from the ornate and historical marble columns of the Russell Senate Caucus Room to the second-floor hearing room of the ultramodern Hart Senate Office Building, which provides the committee more room and wireless Internet access for reporters.

Roberts, in his first statement in front of the committee, told senators that he was not a partisan heading to the court with a political agenda. He spoke for less than 10 minutes – and without notes, befitting a lawyer whose specialty once was thinking on his feet while answering demanding questions from Supreme Court justices.

"I have no platform. Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes," Roberts said. "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them."

A Roberts who would limit the Supreme Court’s reach would please the 10 Republicans on the committee, who used their opening statements Monday to complain about the Supreme Court’s reach into areas they felt were more properly left to local, state and national legislators.

"Perhaps the Supreme Court’s most notorious exercise of raw political power came in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, two 1973 cases based on false statements which invented a constitutional right to abortion," said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. "The issue had been handled by the people through their elected representatives prior to that time."

GOP senators don’t want Roberts to be asked questions about what he thinks on those issues, saying it would be improper for judges to talk about cases they may see in the future.

"Believe me, Judge Roberts will be asked a lot of questions, and he will give a lot of answers," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "But one thing I don’t expect him to do and that no previous nominee has ever been asked to do, is to make specific commitments about how he will rule in cases that are likely to come back before the United States Supreme Court."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said senators know better than to ask Roberts how he will vote on specific cases. Judicial nominees routinely refuse to answer questions about how they will vote on future cases so litigants won’t think their case has been judged before it was argued.

"But it is very important for the American people to understand who this justice is and what his views are on important constitutional issues," Kennedy said. "And this is magnified particularly when the administration has made a judgment and decision to restrict information about the nominee, for what reasons we do not know."

The White House has released more than 70,000 documents from Roberts’ time in the Reagan administration but has refused to release documents from his tenure as principal deputy solicitor general in the first Bush administration. That office supervises and conducts government litigation in the Supreme Court, and dealt with such divisive issues as abortion and prisoners’ rights during Roberts’ time.

A group of Democratic senators, including potential presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and John Kerry of Massachusetts, reiterated a call Monday for the White House to release those documents.

"The people deserve to know the complete truth about Judge Roberts, the good and the bad alike," they said in a letter.

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On the Net:

Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov  

Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov