Roberts Hearings Delayed

News agencies are reporting that the leadership in the Senate has agreed to at least a brief delay in the confirmation hearings for John Roberts, which were set to begin tomorrow. The hearings will now begin no earlier than Thursday, and perhaps at late as next Monday, "with a final decision on timing expected following further discussions."

This is a smart move, for any number of reasons.

The interest groups and arch-partisans on both sides are now mobilizing full force, and this new Supreme Court dynamic threatens to overwhelm those of us who have worked hard to make the confirmation process - now processes - run smoothly and without becoming overly heated. I hope that the president will choose his candidate to replace Justice O'Connor very wisely, keeping in mind the long-term as well as short-term implications, political and otherwise, of whoever he nominates.

It is important for those of us not on the "conservative base" side of the spectrum to keep in mind that whoever the nominee is, he or she is not likely to be someone we're entirely comfortable with. I don't expect that will be the case - and heck, I'm not entirely comfortable with Roberts. But if we see a choice from the president like Edith Clement (who'd have to be my top choice at the moment), Larry Thompson, Alberto Gonzales, or J. Harvie Wilkinson, that will be very different from an Edith Jones, Priscilla Owen, or Michael Luttig. There are conservative judges, and there are activist conservative judges - and I hope Bush opts for one of the former rather than one of the latter.

A smart choice here could unite the country - a poor one could splinter even more the already fragile state of affairs. I hope the president has the will and the savvy to choose wisely.