Washington – Senate Democrats split their ranks Wednesday over the nomination of John Roberts to be chief justice, with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat announcing his support just one day after the party’s leader said he would oppose Roberts.
The divided vote between the two leaders – Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., – underscored that Democrats have been unable to devise a unified strategy on the nomination, which faces its first vote today in the committee. The full Senate is expected to vote next week.
Following Reid and Leahy, other Democrats began announcing their plans.
Among those who said they would oppose Roberts, four – Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Jon Corzine of New Jersey, and Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts – are from states that in recent years have regularly elected Democratic senators.
Other Democrats, from Republican-dominated states or those in which the electorate is closely divided, announced they would support Roberts, including Sens. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Max Baucus of Montana.
With Republicans in the majority in the Senate and Democrats unwilling to launch a filibuster, Roberts’ confirmation has not been in doubt. But the question of how Democrats would vote on the nominee, and how they might try to leverage that vote to influence President Bush’s choice to fill the court’s pending second vacancy, has spurred a fierce debate among Democrats.
“Judge Roberts is a man of integrity,” Leahy said in the Senate, explaining his decision to vote in favor of the 50-year-old appellate judge. “I can only take him at his word that he does not have an ideological agenda.”
Those who said they would oppose Roberts, including Boxer, said they were concerned that his early writing suggested a lack of commitment to civil rights.
Leahy and Kennedy are the only Democrats on the committee who have said how they will vote. There are eight Democrats and 10 Republicans on the panel.
