WASHINGTON – U.S. Supreme Court chief justice nominee John Roberts, his confirmation secure, picked up support from fractured Senate Democrats on Wednesday as President Bush met lawmakers to discuss a second vacancy on the Supreme Court.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s senior Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, announced his endorsement shortly after leaving the White House. That guaranteed bipartisan backing for Roberts in today’s scheduled vote by the committee.
But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, liberal stalwarts Barbara Boxer of California and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, former presidential candidate John Kerry of Massachusetts and New Jersey Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg all are opposing Roberts.
Some of the Democrats’ liberal supporters hoped a strong vote against Roberts would signal to Bush that if he were to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor with a far-right conservative, it would lead to a bigger fight in the Senate.
Leahy, who has led filibuster fights against Bush’s lower-court nominees, said in a Senate speech, “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.”
Roberts “is a man of integrity,” said Leahy, who told Roberts over the telephone about his decision. “I can only take him at his word that he does not have an ideological agenda.”
Other Democrats, including Sens. Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Max Baucus of Montana, also have announced their support. Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana are leaning toward voting for Roberts. Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota is viewed as a possible vote for him as well.
The other six Judiciary Democrats – Joseph Biden, Herb Kohl, Charles Schumer, Dick Durbin, Russell Feingold and Dianne Feinstein – have not announced their votes.
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, R-Pa., the Judiciary Committee’s chairman.
During the Wednesday morning meeting, 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 Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers 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 a while, and said he had talked to O’Connor about staying on through the full 2005-2006 term.
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