Bush Pick Wins GOP Praise

President Bush has nominated federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. to fill the first Supreme Court vacancy in a decade, delighting Republicans and unsettling Democrats by picking a relatively young jurist with impeccable conservative credentials.

If confirmed by the Senate, the 50-year-old Roberts would succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, long a swing vote on a divided court on abortion, affirmative action, states' rights and other volatile issues.

In 2003, when John G. Roberts was nominated as a federal appeals court judge, three Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats voted against him: Dick Durbin, Edward Kennedy and Chuck Schumer.

Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, says he's met Roberts five or six times and the judge has "very fine qualifications." Specter adds that the committee will be reviewing the several dozen court opinions Roberts has written.

"At the minimum people ought to let him be heard and review his record," said Specter, reacting to an abortion rights group that opposed the nomination even before it was announced.

"The president has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry," said Harry Reid of Nevada, Senate Democratic Whip. "I will not prejudge this nomination. I look forward to learning more about Judge Roberts."

Roberts, a Harvard Law School grad who clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, held several key positions in the Reagan administration. He stayed on through the Bush presidency as the government's second highest lawyer, worked for Kenneth Starr, and had a lucrative private practice before being sworn in by Rehnquist a federal judge.

Roberts' path to the bench was a bit rocky. He was nominated for the court in 1992 by the first President Bush and again by the president in 2001. Those nominations died in the Senate, which signed off on his third nomination, in 2003.

Four years ago, Roberts enjoyed some bipartisan support when 126 members of the District of Columbia Bar, including officials of the Clinton administration, signed a letter urging his confirmation as a federal judge. The letter called Roberts one of the "very best and most highly respected appellate lawyers in the nation" and said his reputation as a "brilliant writer and oral advocate" was well deserved.

A senior administration official told CBS News that Mr. Bush interviewed five candidates and consulted with over 70 senators before making his decision.

Announcing his choice Tuesday night, Mr. Bush said Roberts will "strictly apply the Constitution in laws, not legislate from the bench."

Roberts says he is honored and humbled by the nomination.

"I always got a lump in my throat whenever I walked up those marble steps to argue a case before the court, and I don't think it was just from the nerves," said Roberts of the 39 times he argued cases before the Supreme Court. "I look forward to the next step in the process before the United States Senate."

Senate confirmation hearings are expected in late August or early September.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee is calling for confirmation proceedings that "treat Judge Roberts with dignity and respect" and a vote before the court's new term in October.

Reaction from Republican senators is strongly supportive. "He is a brilliant constitutional lawyer with unquestioned integrity," said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

"I think he will be consistent with what the president promised: a judge who will show restraint," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama conservative Republican and Judiciary Committee member. "I don't believe its possible for the Democratic attack groups to convince the American public that John Roberts is an extremist. I can't believe the Democrats will buy into the idea that he is anything but a mainstream judge."

Democratic response is measured, with no hint of a filibuster.

"We know Judge Roberts is no Sandra Day O'Connor," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "There are serious questions that must be answered involving Judge Roberts' judicial philosophy as demonstrated over his short time on the appellate court."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Democrats will want to probe Roberts' views to see whether he holds "mainstream values."

That, notes , depends entirely on what the definition of "mainstream" is.

"He is a Washington insider who now will be judged by Washington insiders," says Cohen, who believes confirmation of the nomination is likely. "If he is "outside" the legal mainstream, as the mantra goes, than so is the entire Republican caucus and the tens of millions of voters who put them there."

New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer voted "no" on Roberts in 2003 because Roberts refused to answer some of his questions.

"Now that he is nominated for a position where he can overturn precedent and make law, it is even more important that he fully answers a very broad range of questions," said Schumer after the president's announcement. "I hope for the sake of the country that Judge Roberts understands this and answers questions openly, honestly and thoroughly."

Kennedy, who also voted "no" in 2003, said he will use the new confirmation hearings on Roberts to probe whether the judge can "separate his personal ideology from the rule of law."

The abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America is opposing the nomination, citing a brief Roberts filed with the Supreme Court while serving as deputy solicitor general in the Reagan administration. He wrote then that "Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled," referring to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that established a woman's right to abortion.

Pressed in 2003 for his personal views on the matter, Roberts said abortion "is the settled law of the land... There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."

The National Right to Life Committee is out with its own statement on the Roberts nomination. "Liberal pressure groups will insist that Senate Democrats filibuster against Judge Roberts, unless he pledges in advance to vote against allowing elected legislators to place meaningful limits on abortion," said the group's legislative director, Douglas Johnson. "Millions of Americans will be watching to see if the Democratic senators bow to these demands."