Don’t Expect Roe’s End With Roberts, GOP Senator Says

WASHINGTON —  A key Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee warned his fellow conservatives Sunday not to confirm Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the United States if they expected that doing so would automatically lead to a dismantling of the Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Roberts would make a trustworthy conservative leader on the high court -- just not a sure bet for Republicans who for years have yearned to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling protecting a woman’s right to choose abortion.

“If your view of being conservative is he has to decide your way, then you’re going to be disappointed,” Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.” “What he will do with Roe v. Wade or any other case before him is judge it based on the briefs and the facts and the arguments made.”

Graham said that while the decision “can be overturned,” conservatives should expect Roberts to vote and lead the court based on the law, not on partisan ideology.

“He’ll listen to the arguments of those who are challenging Roe v. Wade, he will listen to those trying to uphold it, and he will make a decision not based on politics but the rule of law,” Graham said.

“The one thing I’ve learned about this guy -- that he loves the law more than politics. He’s not an ideologue. But he is a true strict constructionist, believing in a limited role of a federal judge in our society.”

The committee is expected to vote Thursday on President Bush’s nomination of Roberts to succeed Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died this month. Because Republicans hold the majority of seats on the committee, a recommendation for approval is likely.

The full Senate is likely to take up the matter the following week. The 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one Independent are expected to vote Sept. 29.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said he planned to announce today how he would vote.

“There are some questions that Judge Roberts did not answer with respect to the Supreme Court’s denigrating the power of Congress that I would have liked to have seen him answer,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” referring to his panel’s recent confirmation hearings.

“But I think he did answer many, many important questions, such as he solidly affirmed the right to privacy” -- the underpinning of the Roe vs. Wade decision, Specter said.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said on the same program that he still wished the panel had been provided copies of Roberts’ memos and other papers from his years in the solicitor general’s office during the George H.W. Bush administration. “I think that would have helped a great deal,” Leahy said.

And he said he believed that a review of Roberts’ papers written while serving in the Reagan administration in the early 1980s showed that he was “very ideological” then.

“It could well have been a young lawyer ingratiating himself with the people he was working for,” Leahy said. “He says he’s not an ideologue, and he said that under oath.”

On ABC’s “This Week,” former President Clinton called Roberts “unquestionably qualified by intellect and character and background, and by experience.” But Clinton also warned that a Roberts confirmation and Bush’s coming replacement for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor “can change the balance on a lot of important things.”

“I think there’s a sense that there’s a lot more at stake here than just any Supreme Court appointment,” said Clinton, an acknowledgment that the two openings on the Supreme Court gave Bush the rare opportunity of turning it harder to the right.

Bush plans to meet with key Senate leaders Wednesday at a White House breakfast to discuss his selection process for the O’Connor slot, and Leahy said he hoped to hear the names of candidates.

“He should appoint whoever’s going to be the best person, not somebody who’s going to be a political appointment,” Leahy said.