Next week's confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice appears so certain that Republicans and Democrats turned increasing attention to President George W. Bush's choice to fill a second US Supreme Court vacancy.
At 50, the conservative appeals court judge stands to be put in position to mold American law for decades.
The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the conservative judge's nomination Thursday on a 13-5 bipartisan vote. The five Democrats who voted no questioned Roberts' commitment to civil rights and worried that he might try to overturn the 1973 court ruling that established the right to abortion in the US.
"The values and perspectives displayed over and over again in his record cast doubt on his view of voting rights, women's rights, civil rights and disability rights," Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachussetts Democrat, said about the 50-year-old appeals court judge, who used to be a lawyer in the administration of Ronald Reagan.
The Democratic support for Roberts marked a stinging defeat for liberal groups lobbying energetically against confirmation, which is required by the Constitution. Without mentioning names, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois criticized them in remarks on the Senate floor, accusing them of "knee-jerk, unbending and what I consider to be unfair attacks" on lawmakers who disagreed with them.
Even so, one prominent conservative said he was unimpressed with the level of bipartisanship.
"We're supposed to think the Democrats are being magnanimous? Give me a break," said Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society. He noted that several Supreme Court nominees of presidents of both parties have gained overwhelming bipartisan support in the past two decades.
The full Senate is to debate Roberts' nomination next week, with all 55 Republicans expected to support him. A final vote is expected Thursday, in enough time to allow him to succeed the late William Rehnquist and become the 17th chief justice before the court begins a new term on Oct. 3.
With Roberts' confirmation a certainty, several senators on the committee were looking ahead to Bush's selection of a replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Roberts was his first choice, but when Rehnquist died Sept. 3, Bush quickly changed the nomination to the chief's chair.
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the committee's Republican chairman, told reporters he thought the president might name a successor shortly after Roberts' confirmation. "He might wait until the following Monday, but seeing how President Bush operates, I think it will be sooner rather than later," he said.
Specter, a supporter of abortion rights, forecast a more contentious debate than Roberts has provoked, then speculated about the impact on the court if a third vacancy should occur next spring.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS