Wonkette

• Bush nominates Roberts to be chief justice; hearings will begin next week. White House official hints the next nominee will not be a white male. Bush: “It is in the interest of the court and the country to have a chief justice on the bench on the first full day of the fall term.” [WP, NYT, WSJ, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Democrats vow increased scrutiny of Roberts but most attention centers around the next nominee. [WP]
• Roberts‘ charisma and convictions thought to foster his effectiveness. Professor: “A committed conservative with interpersonal skills equal to or superior to Rehnquist’s would be a far more effective chief justice than a nominee of equal intellect who lacks those graces.” [WP]
• Roberts is skeptical of judicial intervention at the federal level. [WP]
• Rehnquist will be in repose at Supreme Court until tomorrow. [WP]

• Roberts gained first-hand experience of the chief justice’s role when serving as a law clerk to Rehnquist. [NYT]
• Interest groups gear up for two nomination fights. [USAT]
• Kennedy proposes delay of Roberts‘ hearings until we “know whom the president intends to propose to nominate as a replacement for Sandra Day O’Connor.” [USAT]
• What does Roberts means for you? [USAT]
• Eminent domain ruling has sparked backlash; lawmakers propose restrictions to development. [WP]
• Move “shakes up the complicated political calculus that invariably accompanies judicial nominations.” [USAT]