Roberts Nominated by a White House in Turmoil
President Bush's speedy nomination of John Roberts to succeed William H. Rehnquist as chief justice surprised many observers. It comes as the president, under fire for the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina, also faces waning poll numbers reflecting dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
The president this morning nominated John Roberts to be the next chief justice of the Supreme Court, replacing William Rehnquist. The president made the announcement from the Oval Office. The speedy decision came as something of a surprise, as Judge Roberts had been picked earlier this summer to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor. William Rehnquist died this past Saturday. Joining us now is NPR news analyst Cokie Roberts.
Good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS reporting:
Good morning, Renee.
This was not entirely unexpected. There had been some talk of John Roberts maybe becoming the chief justice. But how unexpected is it, and what are we looking at here?
ROBERTS: Well, I think what we're looking at is the path of least resistance for the president. John Roberts has been out there now for a couple of months. His record is pretty well-known. Even though there are some Democratic groups that are organizing against his nomination, by and large, it seems to be fairly well-accepted in the Senate, and what this does is buy the president some time because Sandra Day O'Connor has said that she will stay on the court until her successor is confirmed. So by putting John Roberts in the chief seat, the president can keep Justice O'Connor on the court, if necessary, when the court convenes in October, and it gives him some time to find a replacement for her.
It comes, of course, Renee, at a very tricky political time for the president. His approval ratings in the polls are the lowest of his presidency. The general view of his handling of the hurricane in Louisiana and on the Gulf Coast is very negative, even though the president's personal handling of it is about evenly split of people approving and disapproving. Usually after a disaster, a president goes way up in approval ratings. After September 11th, he was at 91 percent. So the president has some big political hurdles that he's dealing with here: gas prices being what they are, the war in Iraq and now this catastrophe along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. And I think that picking a fight with the Congress right now over a Supreme Court nominee is the last thing on Earth that he needed.
MONTAGNE: Well, before we get back to the hurricane, is this something that will get him past that political damage?
ROBERTS: Well, it certainly doesn't yet make it worse. I think that's the main thing--that if he had picked somebody right now that just raised all kinds of flags in the Congress that that would have made the whole situation worse. But no, he certainly still has a great deal of problem ahead of him. He's got a congressional agenda that's very contentious, and Republicans in the Senate are talking about still bringing up this week in the wake of all this devastation and seeing such poverty in Louisiana and Mississippi--talking about extending for good the repeal of the estate tax. That's probably not a politically wise idea. And the president is facing--Hillary Clinton, the senator from New York, is talking about creating a Katrina commission to look into how the government has performed. So no, the hurricane is clearly still making life very difficult for the president.
MONTAGNE: Cokie, just--we talked to you last week about the hurricane, and we turn now back to the hurricane. Just briefly, I think people want to know. You spoke about your family. Your from New Orleans; your mother was living there. What happened with them?
ROBERTS: Well, the family on the Gulf Coast was completely wiped out. There are nine houses down and one almost down of my aunt, uncle and cousins. And my mother's with me here, but very, very concerned about the city that she has spent her life devoted to.
MONTAGNE: NPR political analyst Cokie Roberts, thanks much, Cokie.
ROBERTS: Mm-hmm.
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