The hearings will begin next week. Apparently Frist wants to vote by September 26… He also wanted to vote on the Estate Tax Repeal before summer recess and that didn’t happen, so we’ll see…
From the AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate will begin confirmation hearings next Monday for John Roberts to be Supreme Court chief justice, one week after President Bush selected him to replace the late William H. Rehnquist as the 17th leader of the nation’s highest court.
Senate leaders made the announcement Tuesday as Rehnquist’s body lay in repose across the street at the Supreme Court. Roberts, a former Rehnquist clerk, helped carry the flag-draped casket into the building for public viewing.
Roberts was supposed to begin his confirmation hearings as the replacement for the retiring Sandra Day O’Connor on Tuesday, but the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was canceled after Rehnquist’s death and Bush’s decision to elevate the 50-year-old Roberts to the top spot.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, said senators on the panel would begin their opening statements at noon on Monday. Roberts would be likely to make his opening statement late that afternoon after being introduced by Indiana Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh, and Virginia Sen. John Warner.
Roberts is likely to begin facing questions from senators starting on Tuesday.
“It is our expectation that we will be able to complete the hearings that week,” Specter said.
With the hearings pushed back a week, Democrats now are refusing to guarantee when the full Senate will give Roberts a final vote. As for the opening of the hearings, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said, “We all agree that Monday should be the day.”
Even with the delay, Republicans say they will conclude Roberts’ confirmation before October 3, the start of the new Supreme Court session.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said he expects the committee to finish its vote on September 22, and he plans to bring the nomination to the Senate floor on Monday, September 26 and finish before that Friday.
Republicans say Roberts is the same judge who seemed to be headed for confirmation as an associate justice before Rehnquist died Saturday.
“The fact that he’s now been elevated to chief justice shouldn’t slow us down at all,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee that will hold confirmation hearings on the nominee.
Democrats, however, said bumping Roberts up to chief justice instead of having him replace O’Connor means tougher scrutiny of Rehnquist’s former Supreme Court clerk.
“Before the Senate acts on John Roberts’ new nomination, we should know even more about his record, and we should know whom the president intends to propose to nominate as a replacement for Sandra Day O’Connor,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts.
{ 0 comments… add one now }