Senate Democratic leader to oppose Roberts’ confirmation

By Steven Thomma

Knight… Senate Democratic leader to oppose Roberts’ confirmation

By Steven Thomma

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid will vote against the confirmation of John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the Supreme Court, he announced Tuesday.

Reid’s opposition will not change the outcome. The Republican-controlled Senate is still expected to confirm Roberts as the nation’s next chief justice, probably next week.

But it could increase pressure on other fence-sitting Democrats like Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to vote no. It also could embolden President George W. Bush to pick a more controversial nominee for the remaining court vacancy, thus increasing the chances of a more contentious fight.

Reid’s opposition to Roberts came as he prepared to meet with Bush on Wednesday to discuss whom Bush might pick to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

In a Senate floor speech, Reid said he decided to oppose Roberts based on memos Roberts wrote early in his career challenging affirmative action, civil rights and women’s rights.

Florida spared worst of Rita as storm aims for Texas

By Cara Buckley, Phil Long and Martin Merzer

Knight Ridder Newspapers

KEY WEST, Fla. – Threading the needle between Key West and Cuba, the core of Hurricane Rita adopted the best possible course Tuesday through the Florida Straits – a center path that spared both islands catastrophic damage.

Still, the seventh hurricane to strike Florida in 14 months delivered its share of stormy inconvenience – a practice run of sorts for a stronger assault later this week on the Texas coast.

Rita swamped roads, beaches and some buildings in the Keys. It propelled powerful squalls deep into Miami-Dade and Broward counties. It reminded everyone of the dangers of living in the hurricane zone, especially during this period of heightened storm activity.

No storm-related casualties were immediately reported anywhere in the Keys or South Florida.

Agreement with North Korea is progress, but much work remains

By Tim Johnson and Jonathan S. Landay

Knight Ridder Newspapers

BEIJING – An agreement by North Korea on Monday to scrap its nuclear weapons programs is a significant step toward dispelling a decades-old threat of war in East Asia, but not a resolution to the crisis.

Tough negotiations are to begin in November that will address how the secretive Stalinist regime will disarm, including the means for verifying that it fully discloses and dismantles all of its warheads and facilities.

Also to be settled is a timetable for when North Korea will complete the process and when the United States and the other nations involved in the talks will deliver on pledges of trade, normal diplomatic ties and talks on supplying Pyongyang with a light-water nuclear reactor for electricity production.