Sept. 5
USA:
Bush nominates Roberts as chief justice
President Bush on Monday nominated Judge John Roberts to succeed the late
William H. Rehnquist as chief justice of the United States.
"It is fitting that a great chief justice be followed in office by a
person who shared his deep reverence for the Constitution, his profound
respect for the Supreme Court and his complete devotion to the cause of
justice," Bush said from the White House, with the judge by his side.
"I am honored and humbled by the confidence that the president had shown
in me," Roberts said.
"And I'm very much aware that, if I am confirmed, I would succeed a man
that I deeply respect and admire, a man who has been very kind to me for
25 years."
Roberts accepted the offer in a meeting with Bush on Monday morning, a
senior administration official said.
Rehnquist, who quietly advanced the conservative ideology of the U.S.
Supreme Court under his leadership, died Saturday. He was 80.
The justice, diagnosed with thyroid cancer, had a tracheotomy and received
chemotherapy and radiation as part of his treatment.
The president must re-nominate Roberts, whose Senate confirmation hearings
to become an associate justice are scheduled to begin Tuesday. Bush had
named Roberts initially to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is
retiring.
Roberts, a 1979 graduate of Harvard Law School, clerked in 1980 and 1981
for Rehnquist before the latter was elevated to chief justice.
Roberts, 50, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia, considered the most influential federal panel outside of the
Supreme Court, took the bench in 2003.
He was nominated to the same court in 1992 by the president's father,
President George H.W. Bush, but his nomination did not come up for a vote
in the Democratic-controlled Senate before the White House changed hands
in January 1993.
A longtime appellate attorney, Roberts has argued 39 cases before the
Supreme Court, both in private practice and as deputy solicitor general
during the elder Bush's administration.
(source: CNN)
