Senate panel backs Roberts with 13-5 vote

WASHINGTON — John Roberts can begin picking out furniture and measuring for drapes in the chief justice's office.

His nomination cleared a Senate committee on a bipartisan vote of 13-5 Thursday, with next week's confirmation so certain that Republicans and Democrats turned increasing attention to President Bush and his choice to fill a second Supreme Court vacancy.

"I will vote my hopes and not my fears, and I will vote to confirm him," said Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl, one of three Democrats on the Judiciary Committee who joined the panel's 10 Republicans in supporting Roberts' nomination.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the vote was "encouraging because we avoided the party-line vote that many feared. But the nomination did have some strong opposition, and I am disturbed about what that means for the future."

Hatch said the vote should never have been a "close call" and that if Democrats couldn't vote for Roberts, "which Republican nominee will they vote for?"

Five Democrats voted against Roberts, questioning his commitment to civil rights and expressing concern that he might overturn the 1973 court ruling that established the right to abortion.

"The values and perspectives displayed over and over again in his record cast doubt on his view of voting rights, women's rights, civil rights and disability rights," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said of the 50-year-old appeals court judge and former Reagan administration lawyer.

But the Democratic support for Roberts marked a stinging defeat for the liberal groups that are lobbying energetically against confirmation. Without mentioning names, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., criticized them in remarks on the Senate floor, accusing them of "knee-jerk unbending and what I consider to be unfair attacks" on lawmakers who disagreed with them.

Even so, one prominent conservative said he was unimpressed with the level of bipartisanship in committee.

"We're supposed to think the Democrats are being magnanimous? Give me a break," said Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society. He noted that several Supreme Court nominees of presidents of both parties have gained overwhelming bipartisan support in the past two decades.

The full Senate is to debate Roberts' nomination next week, with all 55 Republicans expected to support him. A final vote is expected Thursday, in enough time to allow him to succeed the late William H. Rehnquist and become the 17th chief justice before the court begins a new term Oct. 3.