Latest United States federal courts Stories
By Steve Holland BEAUMONT, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush is close to wrapping up bipartisan consultations with senators about his critical choice to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. Spokesman Scott McClellan said more than 50 senators had been consulted, including 17 of 18 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will first consider the nominee, who if confirmed could shift the delicate balance of the...
By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate opened debate on Monday on the nomination of John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States and, with Democrats divided, the 50-year-old conservative appeared virtually certain to be confirmed this week. At the same time, President George W. Bush, in expressing cautious optimism that Roberts would prevail, again raised the possibility he would nominate a woman or a minority as his second choice for the mostly white and...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday backed President George W. Bush's nomination of conservative John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States. The panel recommended confirmation of Roberts to lead the U.S. Supreme Court by the full Republican-led Senate, which appears certain to do so next week. The 50-year-old Roberts, a federal appeals judge the past two years, would be the youngest chief justice in two centuries and positioned in the lifetime...
By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday John Roberts would be confirmed as chief justice of the United States but that he would oppose the conservative Supreme Court nominee because "I'm not too sure if his heart is as big as his head." "I have too many unanswered questions about the nominee to justify a vote confirming him to this enormously important lifetime position," Reid said of President George W. Bush's first nomination to...
By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said on Monday he will vote for John Roberts to be U.S. chief justice even though it is uncertain what the conservative appeals court judge will do on the Supreme Court. "It's my judgment that he's well qualified ... and I intend to vote aye when his nomination is called before the Senate," the Republican chairman, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said in a Senate speech. "Notwithstanding his answers...
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Chief Justice nominee John Roberts concluding his Senate testimony on Thursday and headed toward confirmation, both sides began maneuvering for the looming battle over the next Supreme Court vacancy. Three days of questioning by Senate Judiciary Committee members left Roberts, President George W. Bush's conservative nominee to replace late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, largely unscathed and steaming toward...
By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Chief Justice nominee John Roberts said on Wednesday that if confirmed by the Senate he would seek greater consensus on the often bitterly divided Supreme Court that has spawned frustration with a series of 5-4 rulings. Roberts, President George W. Bush's nominee to replace the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, made the pledge as Democrats complained he had dodged many questions in two days of his confirmation hearing before the Senate...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chief Justice nominee John Roberts declined to say on Tuesday if he would reverse the long-standing decision legalizing abortion but said he believed the U.S. Constitution accorded Americans the right to privacy, the key underpinning of the landmark ruling. Roberts, a conservative appeals court judge, told the panel considering his nomination to lead the U.S. Supreme Court that he respects legal precedent, which includes the 1973 high court decision, Roe v....
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Roberts had hoped to soon join Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the U.S. Supreme Court. Now Roberts likely will succeed the late legal giant, who was one of his earliest conservative mentors. A generation ago, Roberts served as a young law clerk to Rehnquist, helping the then associate justice research and write court opinions. President George W. Bush nominated Roberts, a federal appeals court judge for the past two years who has also worked in two...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate opened its first Supreme Court confirmation hearing in 11 years on Monday with Chief Justice nominee John Roberts ready to explain his judicial beliefs and background to Republicans and Democrats. At noon EST, Roberts appeared before the Judiciary Committee in the Senate Caucus Room that has held many of Congress' most historic meetings including the Watergate hearings into the scandal that toppled former President Richard Nixon. "I am committed to...
