By John Stanton, CongressDaily
© National Journal Group Inc.
Friday, Sept. 30, 2005

Democrats and Republicans appear determined to begin the second game of this fall's Supreme Court nomination doubleheader using the same playbooks they used during the early stages of the John Roberts nomination fight: The Republican Party is quietly prepping for a coordinated defense of President Bush's pick while Democrats will demand a candidate who will not alter the court's makeup.

	For Democrats, Thursday's confirmation of Chief Justice Roberts essentially reset the fight, since Bush is once again replacing the more moderate Justice O'Connor.

For Democrats, Thursday's confirmation of Chief Justice Roberts to replace the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist essentially reset the fight, since Bush is once again replacing the more moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

An aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday that Democrats will use the run-up to the next pick to once again drive home their warning that "if they attempt to shift the balance of the court," Republicans will face stiff opposition from Democrats. "Anyone more extreme than Judge Roberts would be unacceptable to the Democratic Caucus," the aide added.

A rank-and-file Democratic aide explained that Caucus leaders appear once again to be keeping their powder dry in anticipation of the next nomination, and that any heated rhetoric prior to that will be aimed at deflecting Republican arguments that the Roberts vote should be a model.

Reid and other leaders "want to see who it was first, but the notion was to throw our marker down that voting yes on Roberts didn't mean you get a yes next time. The next vote is a whole new game," the aide argued.

Republicans, meanwhile, have been preparing for Bush's second nomination since the Labor Day weekend and the death of Rehnquist, a GOP leadership aide said Thursday. The aide said Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and his leadership team have been "figuring timelines, ensuring that enough money and staff was available to run a second set of hearings," and gauging the success of Roberts in moving through the Senate on a message of judicial restraint.

The leadership aide said Frist wanted to determine whether the team -- including the "sherpa," former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn. -- he and the White House put together to shepherd Roberts through the chamber would remain intact.

Any changes in rhetoric or strategy will likely be more closely guarded by both sides until the ideological temperament of the next nominee is known and Reid and Frist determine whether they have a fight on their hands.

But with liberal groups already pressing Democrats to filibuster the next nominee regardless of who Bush picks, the GOP aide warned that Frist might revive the so-called nuclear option to break any Democratic blockade.

"Given the outside agitators' complaints about the need to filibuster the next nominee, we've also pulled the constitutional option notebooks back off the shelf," the aide said.

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