Article tools  E-mail this story  Print this story FOLLOW ALONG Judge John Roberts' confirmation hearings will be carried live on C-SPAN3 and C-SPAN Radio. The hearings will be re-broadcast daily on C-SPAN2 beginning at 9 p.m. The hearings can also be viewed on the C-SPAN Web site, http://www.c-span.org/. Related Related Web site • Transcript of Roberts hearing (9/12/05) _____ Related news from the Web _____ Advertisement Sponsored links

_____ Top stories _____ • Graham clashes with Democrats as chief justice hearings open

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Lindsey Graham chided Democrats critical of chief justice nominee John G. Roberts Jr. as confirmation hearings got under way Monday.

"To me, the central issue before the Senate is whether or not the Senate will allow President Bush to fulfill his campaign promise to appoint a well-qualified, strict constructionist to the Supreme Court," Graham, R-S.C., said in his opening statement. "In this case, to appoint a chief justice to the Supreme Court in the mold of Justice Rehnquist.

"In my opinion, by picking you, (Bush) has lived up to his end of the bargain with the American people by choosing a well-qualified strict constructionist," Graham said.

He singled out Sen. Edward Kennedy's comments that the standard of fitness that should be used is whether Roberts, 50, embraces particular views on issues ranging from affirmative action to abortion.

"I respectfully disagree," Graham said.

But Democrats said Roberts' views are fair game, especially since he could be at the helm of the nation's top court for a generation.

Graham and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee spoke in the ornate and cavernous Caucus Room in the Senate Russell Office Building. Several hundred staffers, journalists, administration officials and members of the public packed the room on the first day of what is expected to be a five-day confirmation process.

Roberts, if approved by the full Senate, would replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died this month from thyroid cancer.

Graham warned Roberts of something he already knows: Democrats will press him on memos he wrote while part of the Reagan and first Bush administrations.

Opponent say the memos reflect at best a man out of touch with the mainstream and at worst hostile to protections for women and minorities.

"The memos you wrote while you were working for President Reagan and Bush 1, in my opinion, reflect a conservative lawyer advising a conservative president on conservative policies," Graham said. "To some, those policies make no sense."

But Graham, a reserve judge to the Air Force Court of Appeals, said those policies make sense to conservatives.