Sep 28, 2005 - 06:01:38 CDT
WASHINGTON - North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan said Tuesday that he will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.
Dorgan, a Democrat, said he made his decision after a Monday meeting with the 50-year-old appeals court judge and former Reagan administration lawyer.
"Judge Roberts is clearly a conservative," Dorgan said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "But, from the discussion I have had with him, I also believe he will be a justice who will honor precedent and who will view his high calling to an impartial interpretation of the law."
Dorgan said he talked with Roberts about issues that triggered his interest in the Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearings earlier this month, including women's rights, civil rights and the right to privacy.
He said that some of Roberts legal writings in the 1980s "gave me some real pause, and so I asked to meet with him."
"I confess that Judge Roberts didn't give me specific responses," Dorgan said. "Nonetheless, I believe that having met with Judge Roberts twice and having had some lengthy discussions about these many issues, he is clearly qualified for this job."
Dorgan, chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee and member of his party's leadership, has followed the lead of several other Democrats in the region. The state's other senator, Democrat Kent Conrad, said last week he will support Roberts. Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Tim Johnson of South Dakota have also said they will vote for him.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week that he has "too many unanswered questions" about Roberts and will oppose his nomination.
Roberts is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate this week. He would fill the position of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died earlier this month.
President Bush still has to nominate a successor to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who announced her retirement this summer.
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