Washington – Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will vote against confirmation of John Roberts as U.S. chief justice, Reid announced Tuesday.
Reid’s opposition will not change the outcome. The Republican-controlled Senate is still expected to confirm Roberts as the next chief justice, probably next week.
But it could increase pressure on other fence-sitting Democrats such as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to vote no. It also could embolden President Bush to pick a more controversial nominee for the remaining court vacancy, thus increasing the chances of a more contentious fight.
Reid’s opposition to Roberts came as he prepared to meet with Bush today to discuss whom Bush might pick to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Joining Reid at that meeting will be Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s leaders – Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the chairman, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the senior Democrat.
In a Senate floor speech, Reid said he decided to oppose Roberts based on memos Roberts wrote early in his career challenging affirmative action, civil rights and women’s rights. The Nevada Democrat said Roberts’ two years as an appeals court judge left too short a record to signal how he might rule on such issues in the future.
Reid told his fellow Democrats that he did not expect them to follow him out of party loyalty. Rather, he told them, he would leave it to them to make up their own minds, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who added that he has not decided.
One senator who did signal he would join Reid in opposition was Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Two other Democrats signaled they would vote for Roberts.
“I’m inclined to vote for Roberts unless something else comes up,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
“I’ve not seen anything that would cause me to vote against” Roberts, said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
Several other leading Senate Democrats have refused to say how they will vote, notably including those who might run for president in 2008. They include Clinton, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Joseph Biden of Delaware and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.
Reid is pressing his case at a time when Bush is at his weakest politically, with the lowest approval ratings of his presidency. But Democratic opposition to Roberts – who emerged politically unscathed by his appearances before the Senate Judiciary Committee – could signal to Bush that he cannot win Democratic support anyway and therefore should go ahead with a more confrontational nomination.
