US senate starts hearings into chief justice nominee

The US Senate opened its first Supreme Court confirmation hearing in 11 years yesterday with Republicans and Democrats jockeying for position as they told chief justice nominee John Roberts to expect tough questions on his legal record.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said his panel faces its “biggest challenge of the year and perhaps the decade.”

The committee of 10 Republicans and eight Democrats will decide whether to recommend that the Senate confirm President George W Bush’s nomination of Mr Roberts to succeed the late William Rehnquist and become the nation’s 17th chief justice.