John Roberts, President George Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, gained easy Senate confirmation on Thursday to become the United States high court’s 17th chief justice.
Roberts was approved by a vote of 78 to 22, with all of the Senate’s 55 Republicans voting in lockstep to support the nominee.
Top Senate Republican Senator Bill Frist said that Roberts has the makings to become of America’s truly great chief justices.
”Judge Roberts possesses the qualities that Americans expect in the chief justice of its highest court, and the qualifications that America deserves,” he said in comments made on the Senate floor moments before the vote.
”Without a doubt, he is the brightest of the bright… He is committed to upholding the rule of law and the Constitution … He will be fair and open-minded,” Frist said.
”He will check political views at the door to the court.”
Most Democrats said Roberts’ reputation as a brilliant and fair-minded jurist overrode concerns about his conservative leanings, but some said they were compelled to vote against him out of concern that he might turn out to be even more conservative than he appears, and could be instrumental in overturning decades of hard-fought gains in civil rights and women’s issues. – Sapa-AFP