Republicans hope for quick approval of Roberts

updated 3:56 p.m. ET July 21, 2005

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee John Roberts likely will not face a Democratic filibuster, Senate centrists who brokered an earlier deal to expedite President Bush's judicial nominations said Thursday.

While the group of 14 Democratic and Republican senators said they were reserving official judgment until after Roberts' confirmation hearings, Sen. Mike DeWine said there was agreement that Roberts' resume doesn't show the "extraordinary circumstances" that would meet the group's threshold for a Democratic filibuster.

"There's no indications so far that there will be a filibuster, and I think that was the consensus in the meeting," said DeWine, R-Ohio. "But I think people are reserving the right to see what comes out of the hearings."

Said Sen. John Warner, R-Va.: "This is a confirmation process, not a coronation."

President Bush, meanwhile, said he appreciates the reception Roberts has received so far in the Senate, where the nominee spent Wednesday meeting with senators and had more meetings Thursday.

Roberts will ‘make all Americans proud’
"I want to thank the senators from both political parties who are giving Judge Roberts the chance to talk about his heart, talk about his philosophy," Bush said during remarks to the Organization of American States. "He is a person that'll make all Americans proud" if he is confirmed for a seat on the high court.

Bush added that Roberts has the "experience, wisdom, fairness and civility to be a really good judge."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, asked later whether the president thinks there are enough votes to confirm Roberts, said it was too soon to get into the business of counting heads.

"I think it's way too early in the process to start trying to get into vote counting, or anything of that nature," McClellan said.

Some Democrats indicated that they don't see Roberts, a 50-year-old Republican lawyer-turned-judge as the kind of right-wing candidate they feared Bush would select.

"This is a credible nominee, and not one that — as far as we know now — has a record that in any sense could be described as extremist," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said Bush had "made a wise choice."

Asked whether a filibuster was likely, Nelson said: "I think it's fair to say I don't see anything coming out right now."

"My sense is so far, so good," summed up Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

Americans want to know Roberts' stance on abortion
Meanwhile, an AP-Ipsos poll out Thursday said more than half of Americans, 52 percent, said they thought Roberts should have to state his position on abortion before he is confirmed, with women more likely than men to want to know his stance. Most of those surveyed — 59 percent — said they haven't heard enough about Roberts to form an opinion about him personally. But among those who had, 25 percent viewed him favorably and 14 percent unfavorably.

Majority Republican senators have been unfailingly admiring of Roberts since Bush announced the nomination Tuesday night. And even though Democrats are uncertain about his judicial philosophy, not a single Democratic senator so far has called for the conservative jurist's outright rejection. There also has been no public talk of trying to block a yes or no vote.

After meeting Roberts, committee member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said: "He's the type of guy you'd want to live next door to."

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