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All 55 Senate Republicans are expected to vote to confirm John Roberts as chief justice of the United States. The 44 Senate Democrats are less unified, and independent James Jeffords of Vermont has not announced his position. Democrats who have announced their support for Roberts (17):Max Baucus of Montana, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Carl Levin...

RUSH: All right, to the confirmation hearings of John Roberts -- and again, folks, it's crucial, while you watch the media reveling in the president's poll numbers and awaiting breathlessly (panting) his speech tonight from Jackson Square in New Orleans, the fact is that his nominee to the Supreme Court is running rings around the best and brightest the left has to offer today and this is reshaping the judiciary, the Supreme Court, and this is the branch of government the left is most concerned about. I know they're covering the Roberts hearings but there's nothing they can do about...

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr.'s testimony about the existence of a right to privacy, the importance of respecting precedent, and the need for the Constitution to adapt to changing conditions has alarmed some rank-and-file conservatives, who are filling up Internet message boards with predictions that Roberts may turn out to be a moderate justice.

After two days of intense legal questioning, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts finally addressed a subject most Americans could relate to: His favorite movies are "Doctor Zhivago" and "North by Northwest." Frustrated by Roberts' answers, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested on Wednesday that if he dared to ask the nominee his favorite films, he would get a discussion of cinematography and why "Casablanca" is considered one of the greatest. Instead, Roberts answered flat out, bringing laughter from the audience and senators alike. "North by Northwest," Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic, starred Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau,...

During a long day of senatorial questioning of Judge John G. Roberts, Jr., on Tuesday, the nominee to be Chief Justice was revealed as an interesting combination of a constitutional "originalist" and a believer that the Constitution changes over time - that it is in some ways a living document. To some observers, those seem like quite contradictory notions, but Roberts melded them in testimony that sounded much like a description of his own judicial philosophy. If he follows that approach as a member of the Supreme Court, it would distance him from the Court's two most conservative constitutionalists, Justices...

RUSH: We're going to be talking about the first day of questioning of Judge John Roberts today. We have audio sound bites, some of the highlights from things that have occurred this morning. There aren't a whole lot. There are a couple of interesting things. The energy, now, this is unprecedented. It seems to me, it's been 19 years -- no, since 1992, about 13 years since we had a hearing on the Supreme Court justice, whatever. The hearings are going on. Judge Roberts is answering questions at this very moment. Ted Kennedy has left the room and is now...

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he will not ask Supreme Court nominee John Roberts whether he would vote to overturn the landmark decision that legalized abortion. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., did say he planned to ask Roberts, the president’s pick to succeed the late William H. Rehnquist as chief justice, whether there is a right to privacy in the Constitution. Roberts’ confirmation hearings before the committee were to begin Monday. Specter said he was uncertain whether Roberts would favor overturning the Roe v. Wade decision from 1973 that established a right to abortion. Specter supports a...

Supreme Court nominee John Roberts should not avoid senators' tough questions at his confirmation hearing next week, Sen. Charles Schumer said Thursday as he argued against using Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as Roberts' role model for avoiding key issues. Republicans say Ginsburg declined to answer senators questions 55 times at her Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, while Justice Stephen Breyer declined to answer questions 18 times. Conservative group Progress for America is running a television advertisement saying "As with Ginsburg, Judge Roberts should not answer questions that force him to prejudge cases." But Schumer, a New Yorker and member of the...

Senator Diane Feinstein today spoke a little about Supreme Court nominees, and what we can expect from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. She also let us in on what issues Liberals in the U.S. consider when they think of the rulings that affected them, and which they cherish the most. Feinstein told those gathered to hear her at a meeting of the L.A. County Bar Association that in her opinion the person chosen to replace Sandra Day O'Connor should be "balanced and Fair," and not come from either extreme. She then proceeded to give a history lesson to those gathered,...

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose vote on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts could guide other Democrats, said Monday she will scrutinize his views on abortion and congressional authority to set social policy. She called the impending debate over Roberts' nomination a "big, big deal." "I don't think in the last couple of decades there has been a Supreme Court appointment that could more tip the balance of the court," Feinstein said in a speech to several hundred Silicon Valley business executives. "That's how mega this vote is." In July, President Bush nominated Roberts, a federal appeals court judge, to replace...

RUSH: This NARAL ad, you know, if I were an American woman, I would be outraged at this, because this NARAL ad is setting women back 50 years. I mean, the ad is not only false, it's misleading and dishonest. It is an assault on women. It's a setback to all the progress women have made over the years. Every negative cliché, every cheap shot that demeans women comes back big time in this ad and women everywhere can thank that ad, NARAL and the NAGs for getting so upset about Roberts, but the main thing is the ad is...

When it comes to insisting Supreme Court nominees discuss how they would rule on future cases, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has apparently done a philosophical U-turn. The senator has been vocal recently about President Bush's nominee John Roberts, saying the federal judge "will be expected to answer fully" any questions about his views on controversial issues; but the Democrat sang a different tune in 1967, when he noted that candidates should "defer any comments" on such matters. Cybercast News Service obtained 38-year-old film footage of Kennedy, who was responding to a question about senators grilling Thurgood Marshall about how he...

HILLARY CLINTON TO SUPPORT BUSH COURT NOMINEE **Exclusive** Senator Hillary Clinton has confided to associates that she intends to vote FOR Bush Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Unless some unforeseen development occurs around Roberts, Clinton will throw her support behind confirmation, says a top source. "Look, we're not thrilled President Bush is in office and gets to make these chocies," said a top Hillary source, "But we have to make the best of the situation until the next election!" With her support of Roberts, Clinton ignores pressure from the reactionary-activist wing of the Democrat party....

Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts will be targeted by an eleventh-hour dirty-tricks campaign designed to derail his Senate confirmation, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol predicted on Sunday. "I think the interest groups will go after him personally," Kristol told his fellow panelists on Fox New Sunday. "It will be tougher and rougher than people now think." Senate Democrats won't filibuster the Roberts nomination, he said. But instead, "a week before the confirmation begins there will be some dirty trick, some personal attack, [that] will appear in the New York Times," Kristol predicted. The influential Republican said that ultimately, the...

IT'S been 11 years since the Senate held confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court nominee. With the memory of the proceedings involving Robert H. Bork, Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill still fresh in their minds, the American people are eager for a sense of how the hearings for Judge John G. Roberts will play out. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will try to provide an answer. The nomination of Judge Roberts has extraordinary significance because he will replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been the decisive vote in many 5-to-4 decisions on the cutting edge of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barring unforeseen revelations, President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court John Roberts is highly likely to be confirmed, political analysts said on Wednesday. Roberts, a conservative appeals court judge, could only be blocked from taking his lifetime seat if the Democratic minority in the Senate decided to filibuster the nomination, endlessly extending debate to prevent it coming to a vote. Under Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to cut off debate. Several Democratic consultants and independent academics cited three reasons it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for Democrats to filibuster Roberts. They said it was...