President Bush’s search for a Supreme Court nominee began with a list of 11 names. It ended after John G. Roberts sat down with Bush and the first family’s two dogs and impressed the president with the story of his rise to prominence from small-town Indiana.
Bush is known for going with his gut when making big decisions. His first appointment to the Supreme Court came after he reviewed legal writings and all the other formal trappings he must consider, then sized up five potential candidates in person.
In the end he chose Roberts, a federal appeals court judge who grew up in Long Beach, Ind., working summers in the same steel mill where his father was an electrical engineer and serving as high school class president and captain of the football team. After graduating with honors from Harvard — both in undergraduate and law school — he clerked for William H. Rehnquist when he was an associate justice on the Supreme Court and later worked as a prominent lawyer and judge in Washington.
“I reviewed the credentials of many well-qualified men and women. I met personally with a number of potential nominees,” Bush said as he announced his choice Tuesday night. “In my meetings with Judge Roberts, I have been deeply impressed. He’s a man of extraordinary accomplishment and ability. He has a good heart.”
Studying a notebook
Bush’s advisers had been planning for an opening on the Supreme Court since he came to office four and a half years ago, and the president got personally involved after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement on July 1. Four days later, he took a notebook that described 11 candidates on the long plane ride to Europe for a summit of the leaders of eight of the world’s leading industrial nations.
White House insiders referred to it as the “evergreen list” because names were added and removed as Bush consulted with more than 70 members of the Senate and others. Bush chose five people he didn’t know very well for private meetings at the White House last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Roberts’ hourlong interview was Friday in the sitting area of the executive residence, with Bush’s two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, at their feet. Bush asked questions about his professional experience, his family and his upbringing. Bush showed him around the rest of his private quarters in the White House.
“He wanted to know about his personal life, about where he came from,” White House counselor Dan Bartlett said. He said Roberts was in London teaching an international trade class and flew back and forth to Washington for the interviews, but he canceled his class Tuesday for the announcement of his nomination.
After extensive consultation with White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and other advisers over the weekend, Bush decided Monday night that Roberts was his choice.
Bartlett said out of fairness he wouldn’t discuss whom else Bush had interviewed or considered, although he said the list included women and minorities. But in the end, he said, Bush decided Roberts was the most qualified, and he was the only candidate offered the job.
Consulted with Cheney
Bush discussed his decision with Vice President Dick Cheney and other advisers Tuesday morning. He called Roberts around 12:35 p.m. to ask if he would accept and to invite him and his family to a private dinner that evening at the White House, two hours before they appeared together on television to make the announcement.
The president was having a private lunch with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and their wives when he stepped away to make the call.
“I just offered the job to a great, smart, 50-year-old lawyer who has agreed to serve on the bench,” Bush told his guests after returning to the table.
