WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has told associates he intends to oppose confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice, Senate sources said Tuesday as rank and file Democrats began staking out positions on the man named to succeed the late William H. Rehnquist. Reid scheduled a speech on the Senate floor for mid-afternoon, at which he was expected to make his announcement public.
Roberts has strong Republican support and appears headed for easy confirmation.
As party leader, Reid had urged fellow Democrats not to announce their positions until the conclusion of last week's confirmation hearings for Roberts.
By stating his own position first, Reid likely would set the stage for strong Democratic opposition to the 50-year-old appeals court judge and former Reagan administration lawyer.
Reid's office declined comment. The sources who described his intention did so on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to pre-empt the speech.
Senate Democrats met privately during the day to discuss the nomination, which has drawn strong opposition from critics who argue that Roberts might vote to overturn a 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right to an abortion. Civil rights organizations also oppose Roberts' confirmation, citing some of the positions he took as a lawyer with the Reagan administration and his refusal to disavow them at confirmation hearings.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the nomination on Thursday. The panel includes 10 Republicans and eight Democrats—two of whom are members of the party's leadership. The outcome of that vote is expected to serve as a preview of the level of bipartisan support Roberts can command in the Senate.
The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, and the Service Employees International Union, which has 1.8 million union members, both announced their opposition to Roberts during the day as critics mounted a last-minute effort to discourage Democrats from voting for him.
"The record available to us at this time does not allow us to say with any degree of confidence that Judge Roberts has an understanding of, or commitment to, protecting the hard-fought rights and protections of working families, including their right to equal opportunity," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
The Congressional Black Caucus, which is made up of the House's African American lawmakers and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., also announced its opposition.
"Judge Roberts' civil rights record and views remained the most controversial and unexplained part of his record when the Judiciary Committee hearing concluded, just as his civil rights record and views had been the most controversial part of his record when the hearing began," said Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., the CBC's leader.
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Associated Press Writer Jess Holland contributed to this story.
