How Bush chose Roberts...

According to Drudge:

BUSH PICKS... ROBERTS
Tue Jul 19 2005 20:00:00 ET

President Bush went to Denmark on July 5 with 11 names of top candidates under consideration. In the last few days, he interviewed five -- one on Thursday, two on Friday -- including Judge Roberts, who got a presidential tour of the residence, including the Lincoln Bedroom, during his one-hour visit -- and two on Saturday.

Bush made his decision last night, finalizing it this morning. During lunch with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Bush stepped out the room and called Roberts. When he returned, he said to the group, which included the leaders' wives: "I just offered the job to a great, smart 50-year-old old lawyer who has agreed to serve on the bench."

And despite the intense scrutiny at the White House, Judge Roberts and his wife came to the presidential residence for dinner tonight. At 7:30 tonight, Bush began notifying congressional leaders.

According to me:

Roberts grew up in Long Beach, Ind., and attended a private school in nearby LaPorte before going on to Harvard and Harvard Law School. He clerked for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in New York, and later for Rehnquist, who was then an associate justice.

After that, he worked as a special assistant to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith and as an aide to White House counsel Fred Fielding -- who also mentored Luttig -- during the Reagan administration.

Roberts joined the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson in 1986, then went into President George H.W. Bush's administration, arguing cases before the Supreme Court as Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr's principal deputy. He was nominated to the D.C. Circuit in 1992, but the appointment died when Bill Clinton succeeded Bush as president. Roberts returned to Hogan & Hartson, where he headed the firm's appellate practice and frequently argued before the Supreme Court. President Bush nominated him to the D.C. Circuit two years ago.

And -

Of the two, Roberts spent more time practicing law in Washington, where he has networked with many Democrats. When Roberts was nominated for the D.C. Circuit in 2003, Clinton's former solicitor general, Seth P. Waxman, called Roberts an "exceptionally well-qualified appellate advocate."

"He is a Washington lawyer, a conservative, not an ideologue," said Stuart H. Newberger, a lawyer and self-described liberal Democrat who has argued cases against Roberts.

He put in his time advising the Bush legal team in Florida during the battle over the 2000 presidential election and has often argued conservative positions before the court -- but they can be attributed to clients, not necessarily to him.

I read this information from this (also found via Drudge) Washington Post article, and if I had known this two weeks ago, I would have bet $10,000.00 on Roberts getting the nomination...

--WP