Roberts Confirmed as 17th Chief Justice of the United States

By Dave Andrusko

"If people can't vote for you [John Roberts], then I doubt they can vote for any Republican nominee."    Sen. Orrin Hatch

"Roberts's performance so far has been so masterful, so disarming that the political left has foundered in its effort to tag him as some sort of scary extremist. The vast mushy middle seems accepting and the right is still thrilled."     Terry Neal, Washington Post

Even before John Roberts raised his hand and solemnly swore to "support and defend the Constitution," in the process becoming the youngest leader of the Supreme Court in nearly 200 years, pro-abortion Senate Democrats were issuing ominous warnings that his relatively peaceful confirmation as Chief Justice of the United States could be the calm before the storm.

There were vows to press the next Supreme Court nominee--who turned out to be White House Counsel Harriet Miers--for more specific assurances, threats of filibusters, and routine use of the term Armageddon.

Not that pro-abortion Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee didn't try to stir up opposition to the 50-year-old Roberts, who succeeds his mentor, the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Over and over and over they impatiently pressed Roberts for a more explicit explanation of his views on "privacy" and abortion. Just as often Roberts patiently demurred, explaining that it would be inappropriate for him to comment on cases that might come before the High Court. (The Court had already agreed to hear a challenge to New Hampshire's parental notification law and is considering whether to review a decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.)

Although it came just a day before the Senate voted to confirm Roberts 78-22, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg express support for Roberts' position.

"Judge Roberts was unquestionably right," Ginsburg said in a speech to students and faculty at Wake Forest University. "My rule was I will not answer a question that attempts to project how I will rule in a case that might come before the court."

Knowing they were up against a man considered by many to be the finest litigator of his time, committee Democrats did not have a lot of room to run. The field became even narrower as he demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of case law, an unflappable demeanor, and a quick wit.

Pro-abortion Charles Schumer (D-NY) typified the effort to be blatantly unfair at the same time insisting he was Mr. Moderation. Schumer said repeatedly that he was okay with a judge "within the mainstream--albeit the conservative mainstream," provided that judge give Schumer the kind of "assurances" Schumer wanted: detailed responses that would suggest Roberts agreed with Schumer on various hot button issues.

This Roberts resolutely refused to do. Senate Democrats seemed particularly irate with Roberts' insistence that judges are to be neutral arbiters.

"Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around," Roberts said. "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire."

When they were unable to persuade Roberts to comment on cases from the perspective of a judge, committee Democrats, such as Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.), kept asking Roberts to give answers as if it was a conversation over the back fence.

Feinstein, for example, urged Roberts to talk to her "as a son, a husband, a father" in the context of her inquiries over his position on end of life decisions. When Roberts responded as someone seeking to become Chief Justice of the United States, Feinstein disdainfully characterized his response as "detached."

But committee Democrats were unable to lay a glove on Roberts for the simple reason that he was dazzlingly bright and articulate, knew the case law backwards and forwards, and conducted himself exactly as a judicial nominee ought. Beyond sheer competence, most of all Roberts sailed through because he was faithful to his "modest" creed as a jurist: "judging is different from politics."

To mark the rarity and solemnity of the occasion, all senators answered the roll by standing one by one at their desks as their names were called. Roberts watched the roll call vote with President George W. Bush at the White House.

Justice John Paul Stevens administered the oath of office at the White House. Roberts' wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, held the Bible.