Roberts Sworn In As Chief Justice

50-Year-Old Could Lead Supreme Court For Decades

(CBS/AP) 
Roberts took a separate judicial oath during a private White House ceremony attended by the other justices. A formal Supreme court ceremony was scheduled for Monday, before the opening of the term.

O'Connor, a moderate voice on the Supreme Court and one of only two women, is leaving after 24 years. It is the first time in 34 years that a president has had simultaneous high court openings.

The president originally named Roberts to succeed O'Connor in July. Rehnquist's death led to the switch to Roberts for the chief justice on Sept. 6. O'Connor remains on the court until the president selects a replacement and that person is confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Roberts reports that attention now turns to filling O'Connor's critical swing seat. Democrats are warning the White House that Mr. Bush and the party do not have the same strength they did when Roberts was nominated, and some potential nomiees have drawn threats of a filibuster.

But Roberts reports that of greater concern to the president than Democratic threats is his conservative base, and if Mr. Bush holds true to his campaign promise, they are likely to get a like-minded judge.

CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that the president has often spoken of the importance of diversity, which could either mean a minority or female nominee (video). Borger reports that there is speculation Mr. Bush could turn to his own White House lawyer, who is a woman (Harriet Miers).

The only justice not at the White House was Antonin Scalia. He had a previous engagement that could not be broken, a court spokeswoman said. According the Federalist Society Web site, he was leading a two-day seminar on the separation of powers in Avon, Colo.

Not since John Marshall, confirmed in 1801 at 45, has there been a younger chief. Roberts is the first new Supreme Court justice since 1994.

Before becoming a federal appeals court judge, he was one of the nation's best appellate lawyers, arguing 39 cases — many in front of the same eight justices he will now lead as chief. He won 25 of those cases.

Under Roberts, the court will tackle such issues as assisted suicide, campaign finance law and abortion this year, with questions about religion, same-sex marriage, the government's war on terrorism and human cloning looming in the future.

Said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn: "For many years to come, long after many of us have left public service, the Roberts court will be deliberating on some of the most difficult and fundamental questions of U.S. law."

Twenty-two Democrats opposed Roberts, saying he could turn out to be as conservative as Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court anchors on the right.

"At the end of the day, I have too many unanswered questions about the nominee to justify confirming him to this lifetime seat," said Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Anti-abortion and abortion rights activists both have their hopes pinned on Roberts, a former government lawyer in the Reagan and first Bush administrations. While Roberts is solidly conservative and his wife, Jane, volunteers for Feminists for Life, both sides were eager to see how he would vote on abortion cases.