Dems Will Press Judge Roberts, But Don't Expect Big Revelations; High court picks tend to say little at hearings; loose-lipped Bork sunk.(A)

Publication: Investor's Business Daily

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Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL

Judge John Roberts won't likely need the vote of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to join the U.S. Supreme Court.

But he will need three-fifths of the Senate to vote for cloture before he can be confirmed.

That means at least five Democratic senators -- plus all Republicans -- will have to feel safer voting for cloture than standing against him.

And feeling safer will depend less on what Roberts tells them behind closed doors than on what he says at his confirmation hearing next week.

If Roberts tilts with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on hot-button legal issues, he'll join Robert Bork on the conservative calendar of martyred saints.

If the polished Washington lawyer makes like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and...

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