THE US: President George Bush's nominee to the US Supreme Court is unlikely to face a Senate filibuster, according to members of a group of 14 Democratic and Republican senators whose support would be needed to block the nomination.
"There's no indication so far that there will be a filibuster, and I think that was the consensus in the meeting," said Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio after the group met yesterday to discuss the nomination of 50-year-old John Roberts, a Washington lawyer and appeals court judge. "But I think people are reserving the right to see what comes out of the hearings."
The group of 14 last month came together to work out a deal that averted the use of the filibuster by Democrats to block some of Mr Bush's nominees for the federal appeals court.
Senator DeWine said there was agreement that Mr Roberts's resumé doesn't show the "extraordinary circumstances" that would meet a threshold for a Democratic filibuster.
"So far, so good," said another caucus member, Democratic Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas, summing up the consensus of the meeting.
President Bush won widespread praise on Capitol Hill for his shrewdness in nominating a judge whose credentials have so far not ignited the culture war many had feared would come with the first vacancy in the Supreme Court during his presidency. "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," Mr Bush said yesterday.
However, liberal groups who called for the president to fill the vacancy with a nominee in the moderate mould of Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, who is resigning, are disappointed that he named a candidate with conservative credentials.
Pro-choice activists have pointed out that Mr Roberts's wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, also a lawyer, was executive vice-president of an anti-abortion Washington group called Feminists for Life from 1995 to 1999 and continues to act as counsel for the organisation.
Judge Roberts yesterday continued his round of legislators on Capitol Hill, meeting two of his biggest critics, Democratic senators Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Charles Schumer of New York.
Senator Kennedy said the nominee would be expected to answer fully on his attitude to Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling legalising abortion "so that the American people will know whether Roberts will uphold their rights".
As deputy solicitor general in the administration of president George HW Bush, Judge Roberts helped write a brief for the government stating: "We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled."
However, in confirmation hearings two years ago for the federal bench he said he was simply representing his client, the government.