The Senate hearings on the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court , began on September 12, 2005, with U.S. Senators posing questions to Roberts, who was nominated by President George W. Bush to fill the vacancy of Chief Justice of the United States.
Roberts had been nominated to the Supreme Court to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; however, on September 5 , following Chief Justice William Rehnquist's death, President Bush announced the nomination of Roberts for the position of Chief Justice. On September 6 , President Bush formally sent notice to the United States Senate of the new nomination and the withdrawal of Roberts' prior nomination.
On September 29 , Roberts was confirmed as Chief Justice by a full Senate vote of 78-22. The 50-year old Roberts became the youngest Chief Justice since John Marshall, who was 45 when he joined the court in 1801.
Confirmation process
Prior to naming Roberts, Bush reportedly considered a wide range of candidates.
With the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist, Bush withdrew Roberts' nomination for associate justice and renominated him for chief justice, with only a slight delay in his confirmation hearings to allow for Rehnquist's funeral services.
Former Senator Fred Dalton Thompson helped to promote Roberts' nomination. The nomination was first considered by the 18-member Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee was allowed to send the nomination to the Senate with their approval, send it to the Senate with no opinion, or decline to forward the nomination. On September 22 , the committee voted 13-5 to send Roberts' confirmation to the full Senate.
On September 29 , Roberts was confirmed by the full Senate by a vote of 78-22. Hours after confirmation, he was sworn in by Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at the White House.
Role of the ABA
Nominees to the Supreme Court are evaluated by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary. The opinions of the committee bind neither the President nor the Senate; however, they are generally taken into account. The panel is composed of fifteen federal judges (but not Supreme Court Justices), including at least one from each federal judicial circuit. The body assesses the nominee "solely to professional qualifications: integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament," and offers a rating of "well qualified," "qualified," or "not qualified." On August 17 , the ABA committee unanimously gave Roberts a "well qualified" rating.
Investigation
Judiciary Committee questionnaire
Roberts' total assets were stated as being approximately US $6 million, with sizable investments in XM Satellite Radio, Dell, Inc., and Texas Instruments. His home in Bethesda, Maryland was valued at $1.3 million.
Hearings
How the hearings progressed
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter had called for a final vote by the committee on or before September 15 , but Rehnquist's death and the renomination of Roberts for Chief Justice caused a delay.first round of questioning, each Senator having 30 minutes to query the nominee. During the course of the day, Roberts answered questions from 16 of the 18 committee members, on a variety of topics. He affirmed his commitment to a constitutional right to privacy, clarified his position on civil rights during wartime, and took a conservative position on the use of international law in interpreting the U.S. Constitution.
On September 14 , the hearing resumed at 9:00am, with the completion of the first round of questioning, followed by the start of the second round of questioning. Questioning did not finish this day, and was scheduled to be continued the next day.
On September 15 , the hearing again resumed at 9:00am, with the completion of the final round of questioning of Roberts. Later, the committee went into private session to discuss FBI reports on the nominee, a standard procedure followed for all nominees to federal courts. Following this, the committee heard testimony from the American Bar Association and six panels of various witnesses for the remainder of the afternoon and into early evening. The hearings were adjourned with 24 hours to remain for committee members to submit written questions to Roberts, which were to be answered by him as thoroughly as practicable.
On September 22 , the committee voted 13-5 to send Roberts' confirmation to the full Senate. Senators Biden, Durbin, Feinstein, Kennedy, and Schumer were the five "no" voters. The full 100-member Senate subsequently debated Roberts' nomination, beginning on September 26 .
The Senate voted on the nomination beginning at 11:30 a.m. EDT on September 29 , with Roberts winning confirmation by a 78-22 vote. All 55 Republicans voted to confirm Roberts; 22 Democrats, including Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Patrick Leahy of Vermont, also voted to confirm Roberts, as did the one independent (Jim Jeffords). 22 Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, voted in opposition.
Questions and answers
During Judge William Pryor's confirmation hearings for a federal bench in Atlanta, Senator Charles Schumer said he was troubled by Pryor's "deeply held personal beliefs." There were predictions by some, notably the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights , Notre Dame law professor Charles Rice in the National Review , the Center for Jewish Values and the Catholic organization Fidelis. , that the pattern would be repreated with Roberts' confirmation hearing. Most Rev. Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Denver, notes that "many people already believe that a new kind of religious discrimination is very welcome at the Capitol, even among elected officials who claim to be Catholic," concluding that "the bias against 'papism' is alive and well in America." However, others do not interpret the clause as prohibiting Senate inquiry into the religious beliefs of a nominee; rather they hold that religious inquiries by the Senate are not the application of a religious Test (or disqualification), but a valid form of inquiry into Roberts' source of values and beliefs, which they consider to be highly relevant to a position such as Supreme Court Justice.
On September 13, during the second day of confirmation hearings Senator Arlen Specter asked Roberts whether his faith would affect his opinions on the bench. Roberts responded that "there is nothing in my personal view based on faith or other sources that would prevent me from applying the precedents of the court faithfully in accord with the principles of stare decisis." Later the same day, he also said "my faith and my religious beliefs do not play a role in my judging. ... I look to the law. I do not look to the Bible or other religious books." On September 14, Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Roberts about the "role Catholicism would play" in his tenure as a justice. Roberts declined to endorse President Kennedy's statement that "separation of church and state is absolute," telling Feinstein, "I don't know what you mean by 'absolute.' " Some consider such questioning to be a revival of anti-Catholic bigotry reminiscent of the public concern about Catholic influence that presidential candidate John F. Kennedy faced in 1960, and exemplified by the controversial Blaine Amendments.
Adoption records
While investigating Roberts' life, the New York Times was accused of attempting to unseal records detailing the 2000 adoption by Roberts and his wife of two Irish infants via a Latin American country. The Times denied any attempts to unseal legal records and stated that "ur reporters made initial inquiries about the adoptions" and "hey did so with great care, understanding the sensitivity of the issue."
The Times was condemned by the National Council for Adoption, "NCFA denounces, in the strongest possible terms, the shocking decision of the New York Times to investigate the adoption records of Justice John Roberts' two young children. The adoption community is outraged that, for obviously political reasons, the Times has targeted the very private circumstances, motivations, and processes by which the Roberts became parents."
Federalist Society
Judge Roberts has stated that he cannot recall ever having been a member of the Federalist Society. He sought and received published corrections from several major news organizations retracting earlier reports that he had been a member. On 25 July 2005, however, the Washington Post reported that John Roberts is listed in the Society's 1997–1998 leadership Directory as serving on the Steering Committee of the Federalist Society. The same source also indicates the possibility that the individuals listed in the "leadership directory" are, in a technical sense, not necessarily "members" of the society, and no confirmable membership information i
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