US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts pledged to judge with humility and "without fear or favor" if approved as the nation's 17th chief justice, the youngest head of the nation's highest court in 200 years.
"I have no agenda," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee at the opening of confirmation hearings.
"I have no platform. Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes," said the 50-year-old appeals court judge and former Reagan administration lawyer, picked by President George W. Bush to succeed the late chief justice William Rehnquist, who died this month.
Suspicions
Such assurances to the senators sitting in judgment of Roberts seemed meant to quiet suspicions, especially among Democrats, about a man whose views could help shape laws on abortion, civil rights, the death penalty and other contentious subjects for decades. Under the US Constitution, the Senate has the final say on such nominations, and the committee hearings that began on Monday is the first step toward that.
Roberts sat ramrod straight in his chair in the crowded, ornate Senate Caucus Room through several hours of preliminary speeches by committee members before his turn came to speak. A pad of white paper and pencil placed in front of him went unused.
Even before he cleared his throat to speak at midafternoon, Republicans and Democrats on the committee sparred in anticipation of several days of questioning that lie ahead.
"It is not undignified to ask the nominee questions he would rather not answer, should he prefer to remain inscrutable, or worse yet, all things to all people," Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin said. Several Democrats on the committee, mindful of conservative positions Roberts took in legal memoranda written while he worked in former president Ronald Reagan's White House, said they intended to probe his views on issues such as abortion and civil rights.
Contentious
Those and other contentious subjects sure to be brought up raise partisan hackles in the US, with the two major parties holding almost diametrically opposing views on them. Roberts is thought to share views more with Bush's Republicans than with Democrats.
"Don't take the bait," Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, told Roberts. "Decline to answer any question you feel would compromise your ability to do your job," he said.
The debate over the permissible limits of questioning masked deeper differences as the committee began its first hearings for a Supreme Court nominee in 11 years.
Republicans predicted before the session that the nomination eventually would be approved, and Democrats did not disagree that Roberts was on track for confirmation barring an unexpected turn of events.
Approval assured
Committee approval seemed assured, possibly by party-line vote, according to several Republican officials. Democrats have remained officially uncommitted pending outcome of the hearings, although many have expressed skepticism. One, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, told Roberts during the day, "If I looked only at what you've said and written in the past, I would have to vote `no.'"
Republican officials said they hoped Roberts would pick up the support of some Democrats after his nomination reaches the full Senate. Majority Republicans intend to press for a final vote before the court opens its new term on Oct. 3.
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