Connecticut Senators Will Vote for Roberts
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 -Democratic Senators Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd announced Tuesday that they will vote to confirm Judge John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States.
“I’m impressed with his testimony and that he strikes me as being a good person,” Dodd said during a conference call where he announced his decision.
Roberts, nominated to become the United States’ 17 th chief justice, has been overwhelmingly supported by Republicans and is expected to win the final vote scheduled for Thursday.
Dodd and Lieberman joined 13 other Democratic senators who have already voiced their support, including Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the judiciary committee.
“I’ve weighed carefully this decision,” Dodd said. “Obviously this is about as important a vote, other than the vote to declare war and amend the Constitution of the United States, you can cast.”
Dodd, who in the past has supported GOP nominees Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter, said he based his decisions on three things: legal and intellectual competence, fair-mindedness and “a commitment to equal justice for all under the law.”
Lieberman, speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, emphasized the need for the Supreme Court to remain separate from politics and said that in his opinion Roberts could uphold that value.
“I will vote to confirm Judge Roberts and send him off to the non-political world of the Supreme Court with high hopes,” Lieberman said.
Dodd and Lieberman both said Roberts’ comments on privacy and civil rights during his confirmation hearings were reassuring, if somewhat tight-lipped.
“You can vote your fears and you can vote your hopes and I’m casting that vote on hope,” Dodd said.
But Dodd warned President Bush about nominating someone with a more partisan temperament to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Roberts initially was nominated to replace O’Connor but when Chief Justice William Rehnquist died the President made Roberts the nominee for Chief Justice.
“He made, I thought a reasonable choice in Judge Roberts,” Dodd said. “If he follows that pattern, then you could have a great legacy of putting good people on this court. If he goes the other way and decides he’s got to placate the hard right in the country then I would expect a knock-down drag-out fight over the coming weeks.”
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