Top US law job at stake as senators question Roberts

THE United States Senate yesterday began its first Supreme Court confirmation hearing for 11 years, a process John Roberts hopes will end with his being sworn in as the 17th chief justice, a post in which he could shape US politics for a generation.

"This hearing is the only opportunity for the American people to examine what kind of justice John Roberts will dispense," said Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee.

While few were challenging his legal credentials, Democrats promised tough questioning of Mr Roberts, a conservative who served in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan and the first President George Bush.

Senator Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who has sat through numerous confirmation hearings in his 40-year political career, said the Senate "must also determine whether [Roberts] has demonstrated a commitment to the constitutional principles that have been so vital in advancing fairness, decency and equal opportunity in our society."

Yesterday's hearing was the first of four at which the committee's 18 members - ten of them Republicans and eight Democrats - will question Mr Roberts about his judicial beliefs and background.

Mr Roberts, nominated by President George Bush to replace the late chief justice, William Rehnquist, is considered a near certainty to be confirmed, perhaps by the time the supreme court starts its new term on 3 October.

That view is helped by the belief he would not greatly alter the conservative outlook of Mr Rehnquist.

A bigger fight is anticipated over President Bush's next nominee, who will replace the retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate conservative who has often been the swing vote on the sometimes sharply divided nine-member court.