Roberts picked for chief justice

President Bush yesterday upgraded his Supreme Court nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. from associate justice to chief justice and called on the Senate to confirm him before the court reconvenes Oct. 3.

“Judge Roberts has earned the nation’s confidence, and I’m pleased to announce that I will nominate him to serve as the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court,” Mr. Bush said in an Oval Office appearance with the nominee.

Judge Roberts, originally tapped to replace retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, is now slated to succeed Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died Saturday.

Judge Roberts’ Senate confirmation hearings have been postponed from today until at least Thursday because of Chief Justice Rehnquist’s funeral, set for tomorrow.

“I am honored and humbled by the confidence that the president has shown in me,” Judge Roberts said. “And I’m very much aware that if I am confirmed, I would succeed a man I deeply respect and admire, a man who has been very kind to me for 25 years.”

Judge Roberts, 50, once served as a clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist and had been looking forward to serving alongside his old boss.

Democrats said the nomination to a higher post justifies a higher level of scrutiny of Judge Roberts’ record. Although more than 60,000 pages of documents have been released, liberals want additional papers that the White House deems privileged.

“John Roberts bears a heavier burden when he comes before the Senate,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Before the Senate acts on John Roberts’ new nomination, we should know even more about his record.”

Spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House already has “provided them with an enormous amount of information to be able to move forward on his nomination.”

After announcing the nomination, Mr. Bush boarded Air Force One to tour the Gulf Coast hurricane damage. En route, he telephoned Justice O’Connor to tell her Judge Roberts no longer would replace her.

Justice O’Connor, who had not seen Mr. Bush’s televised announcement minutes earlier, reaffirmed her willingness to remain on the court until a successor is nominated and confirmed, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. Mr. Bush is not expected to nominate another justice until Judge Roberts is confirmed.

By tapping Judge Roberts as chief justice, Mr. Bush passed over justices who have been serving on the court for years, including Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. That spares the president from yet another potentially rancorous political battle, because Justice Scalia or Justice Thomas would have had to be confirmed by the Judiciary Committee.

The president always has regarded Judge Roberts as a potential chief justice, White House officials said. The two met in the White House for 30 to 45 minutes late Sunday, with White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. participating in the start of the meeting.

At 7:15 a.m. yesterday, Judge Roberts was summoned to the White House, where the president officially offered the job.

After Judge Roberts accepted and before the 8 a.m. announcement, Mr. Card notified Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican; Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican; Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the panel; and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican.

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