Washington – The White House and its allies opened their campaign Wednesday to confirm Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court with a mix of soft persuasion and hard pressure as Senate Democrats planned a response to a nomination they conceded could be difficult to defeat.
After meeting with President Bush at the White House in the morning, Roberts headed to Capitol Hill for the ritual of courtesy calls, and Republican operatives began television advertising to push the Senate to approve the appellate judge. Bush called for a “fair and civil process” that will put Roberts on the bench by the time the court reconvenes Oct. 3.
An array of interest groups on the left began mobilizing opposition to Roberts, but Senate Democrats demonstrated little eagerness for an all-out war against him. Some Democratic senators laid the groundwork for a struggle focused on obtaining documents related to Roberts’s career in government and using any resistance by the administration against him.
As the day progressed, Democrats seemed increasingly resigned to the notion that they can’t stop his appointment.
The key barometer came from members of the Gang of 14 senators who forged a bipartisan agreement in May to avoid a showdown over lower-court appointments.
Two Republican members of the group, John McCain of Arizona and John Warner of Virginia, said the Roberts selection would not trigger the “extraordinary circumstances” clause of the pact that would justify a Democratic filibuster.
Democrats held out little prospect of a filibuster.
“Everybody ought to cool their jets on this and let the process work,” said Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a Democratic member of the group. “Going in, it looks good” for Roberts.
Bush introduced his nominee in a prime-time White House ceremony Tuesday night, choosing a practiced appellate lawyer to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Roberts, who served in the Reagan and first Bush administrations and earned a reputation as one of the most successful lawyers in the Supreme Court bar, was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2003.
