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Lincoln to vote for Roberts Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 By Alison Vekshin Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., announced on Wednesday she will vote to confirm appeals court judge John Roberts to become the next chief justice of the Supreme Court. In what she called "one of the hardest decisions" of her Senate career, the Arkansan said she would support Roberts when his nomination comes before the full Senate on Thursday. "After careful thought and deliberation, I have concluded that Judge Roberts is a very smart man who has enormous respect for the law," Lincoln said in a speech. "I believe John Roberts cares more about following the law and maintaining respect for the judiciary than he does about politics or ideology," Lincoln said. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., has said he also would vote for Roberts. Roberts is expected to win easy confirmation with the support of 55 Republicans and at least 20 Democrats, according to published vote counts. In reaching her decision, Lincoln said she reviewed testimony given to the Senate Judiciary Committee along with the views of constituents, "both those who think Judge Roberts will make a fine Supreme Court justice and those who have real concerns about the direction he may lead the court." Lincoln said she met with Roberts last week to get a better sense of his temperament and how his life experiences would shape his views and interpretation of the Constitution. "Judge Roberts will likely serve on the court for several decades and I believe he will have more influence on the future of our nation than any member who serves in this body today," Lincoln said. Still, she expressed some reservations. "I regret that Judge Roberts has made this decision more difficult than it needed to be by refusing to be more forthcoming about his views on protections in the Constitution for individuals, especially as those protections and guarantees relate to civil rights and gender equality," she said. She pointed to the memos Roberts wrote when he worked in the administration of President Ronald Reagan in which he advocated a narrow application of federal anti-discrimination laws. Lincoln said she would vote for Roberts despite misgivings about how President Bush has approached the judicial nomination process. "When President Bush first ran for office in 2000, he told the American people he was a uniter, not a divider," she said. "Sadly, President Bush has not followed through on that promise and judicial nominations are one of the most glaring examples of where his administration has fallen short," Lincoln said. One Arkansas political scientist said Lincoln and Pryor were mindful of their state's conservative-leaning politics in their decisions on Roberts. "They are moderates to even moderate conservatives elected from a state that's become increasingly Republican at the top of the ticket in the recent election," said Janine Parry, a University of Arkansas associate political science professor. Parry noted that the next person Bush nominates to the Supreme Court is likely to be more conservative than Roberts and would offer the Arkansans a chance to balance their votes. "They may have it both ways if they vote against the second nominee," she said. "If they end up with a one-and-one record, that's a pretty safe place to be in a state that is very middle of the road," Parry said. -- 30 -- |
