When Chief Justice John Roberts, 50, was sworn in Sept. 29 (See Roberts, page 7), President Bush called him “a man with an astute mind and a kind heart.” Roberts answered: “There is no way to repay the confidence you have shown in me other than to do the best job I possibly can do.”

The U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to begin hearing arguments Oct. 5 on whether Oregon physicians can be prosecuted by the federal government for carrying out Oregon's assisted-suicide law. The case, Gonzales v. Oregon, involves the Bush administration's attempt to stop Oregon's law.

On Oct. 3, Bush nominated Harriet Miers, 60, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Miers is a past president of the Texas State Bar and longtime Bush friend. An elder at her Evangelical church says “her personal views” on abortion “are consistent with that of evangelical Christians.”