Battle over the nominee expected
WASHINGTON, July 20 – As expected President Bush grabbed his chance to put a conservative judge in the Supreme Court with both hands. He has chosen John G. Roberts as nominee for the vacancy left by Sandra Day O’Conner at the beginning of this month. Speculation rose high the last few days since there were indications that Bush would announce his nominee this week, rumours spread that he would focus on women, African Americans and Hispanics but apparently he even ignored his own wife’s advice to appoint a woman and chose the conservative Roberts.
The battle on his appointment is expected to be fierce because his election in the Supreme Court could guarantee the far right side to prevail on very important ethical decisions like abortion, euthanasia and same sex marriages. Analists are expecting that this particular battle would center around Roberts’ stance on abortion, one of the major ethical problems of the last decade. Roberts’ views on abortion have contradicted in the past but White House official Thompson, appointed to guide him through the process, urged that he only entertained these views as an advocate defending his clients’ interest.
Bush has insisted that Roberts should get a fair and timely hearing, and he is confident that Roberts will receive enough support from the senators to take place in the Supreme Court. Bush and Roberts both agree this should be all done before October when the new term for the Supreme Court begins. In the meantime conservative groups are extremely happy with today’s news claiming that Bush has now kept a campaign promise he made his supporters earlier.
