Let the Hearings Begin

The confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts to the chief justiceship will get underway at noon EDT today when the Senate Judiciary Committee gavels in. Here's how the week's going to shape up in terms of coverage:

Today each of the eighteen committee members will get ten minutes to make an opening statement. Then Senators Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh of Indiana (Roberts' home state) each get five minutes to introduce the nominee. The day will end with Roberts' making his own opening statement.

Questions will begin on Tuesday, when the committee resumes at 9:30 a.m. Senators will have thirty minutes each of question-time with Roberts. Another round of questions will begin Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., with the time periods shortened to twenty minutes. Other rounds may be requested by members of the committee at the end of the second round. Following all committee questioning, the panel will go into closed session and review Roberts' FBI security file.

If the number of question-rounds goes above two, the rest of the week's timing may be shifted, but the plan as of now is to begin hearing from other witnesses at 9:30 on Thursday morning: the American Bar Association will testify, as well as thirty others.

After the other witnesses have testified, the committee will meet to consider and vote on Roberts. The earliest date for this is September 20, but other options are possibilities. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist wants to begin floor debate before September 26, with a final vote before the last day of the month.

I will be paying as much attention as I can to the hearings, but due to my class schedule will probably not be able to live-blog as I had originally wanted to. I hope to provide periodic updates as events warrant, and will certainly do a nightly recap at least through the first few days of hearings.

Off we go!

The Christian Science Monitor has two great articles on the hearings today, one a basic overview of the nomination process and pitfalls, and another feature profiling the eighteen members of the Judiciary Committee.

These next few days are the make-or-break moments for Judge Roberts. Even though I won't be as firmly glued to the television as I'd like this week, I will be carefully reviewing the transcripts and watching the videos. Roberts' answers to some of the questions that senators will ask are going to be of incredible long-term importance, to say the least.