[Mb-civic] Higher Stakes for Roberts - E. J. Dionne - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Higher Stakes for Roberts

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, September 6, 2005; Page A25

Why did President Bush pull such a quick switch yesterday and name Judge 
John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States? There are several 
theories, but here's the most sensible: Bush had always planned to make 
Roberts chief someday.

Recall that before Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement in July, 
much of official Washington was expecting that Chief Justice William 
Rehnquist would be the first to leave. The administration's extensive 
vetting was organized in large part to find a replacement for Rehnquist.

Roberts's combination of a conciliatory personality with firmly 
conservative convictions made him the perfect choice to lead the 
judicial revolution Bush would like to unleash. Successful chief 
justices need to be good politicians, and Roberts's political gifts were 
much in evidence this summer as he seemed to be charming his way toward 
relatively easy Senate approval.

But Rehnquist's passing and Bush's decision to withdraw Roberts's 
nomination as associate justice so he could name him chief create new 
political problems for both Bush and his appointee.

Until yesterday, even Roberts's staunchest critics judged their chances 
of stopping him for O'Connor's seat as bleak. Discussion among Senate 
Democrats revolved less around a strategy for blocking Roberts than on 
tactics that would make the best of his likely confirmation.

The debate focused on how many votes Democrats should try to muster 
against him -- to send a message for the big fight that would come over 
Rehnquist's job -- and whether senators from states where Bush had been 
popular should even consider voting no. Should Democrats try to look 
"moderate" by going along, or cast themselves as fighters for principle?

By proposing that Roberts lead the court, Bush has given the liberal 
groups that oppose the nomination (and Democratic senators inclined to 
join them) a chance to regroup and argue that this battle is no longer a 
practice session for the next round. This is the next round.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090501032.html?nav=hcmodule
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