Roberts Picks Up Democratic Support

ap on Yahoo ^ | 9/21/05 | Jesse J. Holland - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice-nominee John Roberts, his confirmation secure, picked up support from fractured Senate Democrats Wednesday as President Bush met lawmakers to discuss a second, probably more contentious, vacancy on the Supreme Court.

The Judiciary Committee's senior Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, announced his support for Roberts shortly after leaving the White House, guaranteeing bipartisan backing for the nominee in Thursday's vote by the panel.

But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, longtime liberal stalwart Edward Kennedy and former presidential candidate John Kerry all are opposing Roberts, underscoring a split in the Senate's 44 Democrats on whether they can or should mount even symbolic opposition to the successor of the late William H. Rehnquist.

Republicans control the Senate and the Judiciary Committee, so majority support was already assured for the panel's vote on Thursday and for confirmation next week.

However, some of the Democrats' liberal supporters hoped that a strong vote against Roberts would signal to Bush that replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with a far-right conservative would lead to a bigger fight in the Senate.

Leahy, who has led filibuster fights against Bush's lower court nominees, said in a speech on the Senate floor, "I do not intend to lend my support to an effort by this president to move the Supreme Court and the law radically to the right."

But Roberts "is a man of integrity," said Leahy. "I can only take him at his word that he does not have an ideological agenda."

Other Democrats, including Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Max Baucus of Montana, also have announced their support. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana are leaning toward voting for Roberts, and Kent Conrad of North Dakota is viewed as a possible vote for him as well.

Roberts is "very well credentialed," Landrieu said Wednesday.

The other six Judiciary Democrats — Joseph Biden, Herb Kohl, Charles Schumer, Dick Durbin, Russell Feingold and Dianne Feinstein — have yet to announce their votes.

Durbin and Schumer were confronted by television producer Norman Lear and other major party supporters during a trip to the West Coast over the weekend, according to party officials familiar with the conversation.

These Democratic supporters are strongly opposed to Roberts, and want Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, and Schumer, the head of the campaign committee, to oppose his confirmation.

Leahy's decision was "inexplicable and deeply disappointing," said Ralph Neas, head of People for the American Way.

The stakes become greater with the next nominee, and "the next nomination is going to be a great deal more contentious," said Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., the Judiciary Committee's chairman.

The conservative Roberts is replacing Rehnquist, a reliably conservative vote on the court. Bush's next nominee will replace O'Connor, one of the court's swing voters on affirmative action, abortion, campaign finance, discrimination and death penalty cases. Replacing her could give the president a chance swing the court to the right on many issues.

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

Specter cautioned Bush during the Wednesday morning meeting that nominating either Priscilla Owen or Janice Rogers Brown — two appeals court judges Democrats filibustered but eventually allowed to be confirmed — to the O'Connor seat could cause problems, according to a congressional official familiar with the meeting. That official spoke on condition of anonymity because the give-and-take was considered confidential.

The senators offered some names to the president, who did not share his own opinions. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush was considering a diverse list.

Among candidates widely mentioned are: federal appellate judges Owen, Brown, Edith Brown Clement, Edith Holland Jones, Emilio Garza, Edward Charles Prado, Alice Batchelder, Karen Williams, J. Michael Luttig, J. Harvie Wilkinson, Michael McConnell and Samuel Alito. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, lawyer Miguel Estrada and Maura Corrigan, a member of the Michigan Supreme Court, are also considered possibilities.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he urged the president to announce his decision within the next 10 days or so. Frist said a new justice could be confirmed "by Thanksgiving if that nomination comes quickly enough."

Specter suggested that the president wait awhile, and said he had talked to O'Connor about staying on through the full 2005-2006 term.

"It would be quite a sacrifice for her, but she's prepared to do it if she is asked," Specter said. "By next June we'll know a lot more about Judge Roberts ... than we do today."

___

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann and David Espo contributed to this report.

[NormsRevenge]

Senate leaders and the top two lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee speak with members of the media, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005, after a White House meeting with President Bush to discuss the second vacancy on the Supreme Court. The meeting was similar to one Bush held in July, one week before he nominated Roberts to fill the shoes of the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Left to right are Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter, R-Penn. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

[MNJohnnie]

Democrat, Patrick Leahy

Just bowing to the inevitable and positioning himself as a "moderate" to create political cover to justify filibustering the next one.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Is leaky up for reelection?

[NormsRevenge]

Yup, everything is proceeding "according to plan", the question is what plan? ;-)

[NormsRevenge]

[Bush gal in LA]

Thats exactly what I asked this morning when I heard this news!

[xzins]

President Bush should QUICKLY nominate his friend Alberto Gonzalez.

He will be confirmed quickly and he is slightly to the right of O'Connor.

Then they should get one more of the old republican justices to announce.

Bush nominates a person who tips the court. This will energize the base for the mid-term elections AND possibly bring us a filibuster proof Senate.

[Ninian Dryhope]

"confronted by television producer Norman Lear"

Gee, from watching his television shows, who would have thought that Norman Lear was a left wing democrat?

[FreedomSurge]

I still hope they fillibuster.

[hsalaw]

Arlene Spectre drives me crazy. And, by the way, where did this idea that a swing-vote (O'Conner) could only be replaced by a swing-vote? I don't recall seeing anything like that in any of our founding documents. Replacing swinging door O'Conner with a solid conservative would be the right thing to do.

[patent]

>>>>President Bush should QUICKLY nominate his friend Alberto Gonzalez. He will be confirmed quickly and he is slightly to the right of O'Connor.

Well, he'd get all the democratic votes, only people to oppose him would be a handful of non RINO-republicans. I, however, will stay home a couple years from now when the RINOs call to ask me to work again. I didn't bust my but to put Bush's liberal cronies on the court.

patent

[frankjr]

"Roberts is "very well credentialed," Landrieu said Wednesday."

She then added "unlike myself."

[NormsRevenge]

In 2010 if I did my math right. He is in his 6th term.

Biographical Sketch 2005

Patrick Leahy of Middlesex was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and remains the only Democrat elected to this office from Vermont. At 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected from the Green Mountain State.

[danmar]

I watched a judge with that look on his face sending a guilty dude to 25 to life in the slammer.

[smonk]

there isn't an exploded head in all of DUmmie land.

:)

[NormsRevenge]

Leahy, who has led filibuster fights against Bush's lower court nominees, said in a speech on the Senate floor, "I do not intend to lend my support to an effort by this president to move the Supreme Court and the law radically to the right."

But Roberts "is a man of integrity," said Leahy. "I can only take him at his word that he does not have an ideological agenda."

Other Democrats, including Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Max Baucus of Montana, also have announced their support. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana are leaning toward voting for Roberts, and Kent Conrad of North Dakota is viewed as a possible vote for him as well.

Roberts is "very well credentialed," Landrieu said Wednesday.

The other six Judiciary Democrats — Joseph Biden, Herb Kohl, Charles Schumer, Dick Durbin, Russell Feingold and Dianne Feinstein — have yet to announce their votes.

[conservative blonde]

You are absolutely right. The constitution doesn't give any formula for the composition of the SC. I think Bush is again going to nominate a solid conservative and let the fight begin. They can say all they want about bad mouthing Brown and Owen but this senate confirmed them. They cannot now go back and say they are too far to the right and then filibuster either one.

[montag813]

President Bush should QUICKLY nominate his friend Alberto Gonzalez.

Gonzales is a legal lightweight, not withstanding questions regarding his positions regarding the 2nd Amendement, abortion and illegal immigration. He would be an inferior choice.

[NormsRevenge]

2 words re: Gonzales

La Raza