President George W. Bush nominated John G. Roberts Jr. ’76 to be the 17th Chief Justice of the United States Monday. If the Senate confirms him, Roberts will become the first graduate of Harvard College or Harvard Law School (HLS) to serve as chief justice.

The re-nomination follows the unexpected death on Saturday of former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who held a masters degree from Harvard. Roberts had already been tapped to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O’Connor. His confirmation hearings, the first in 11 years, were set to begin tomorrow, but have been delayed.

By switching Roberts’ nomination from associate justice to chief justice, Bush is hoping to have nine justices on the bench when the Supreme Court’s term starts on October 3. O’Connor has agreed to stay on until she is replaced.

"He thrives on challenges and I have no doubt this is precisely where he wants to be," said Robert N. Bush '77, Roberts' roommate at Harvard for three years. "Few people who study history are destined to influence it as he may."

Both the president and Senate Republicans said today they planned to hold hearings on Roberts as soon as possible, beginning either this Thursday or next Monday after Rehnquist’s funeral, so that he can be confirmed by October. Some Democrats, however, say they need more time because a chief justice nomination is different from that of an associate justice.

But Warren Professor of American Legal History Morton J. Horwitz said that the confirmation is not dramatically different.

“At the symbolic level the chief justice represents the Supreme Court on ceremonial occasion,” Horwitz said. “So the chief justice has a larger potential public voice. But if I were a senator it would not fundamentally change my vote if he were nominated to be an associate justice or chief justice.”

The chief justice is often said to be “first among equals” because, despite his lofty title, he only holds a single vote on the Court. However, he does hold several additional powers, both practical and ceremonial, the most important of which is the ability to choose which justice will write an opinion when the chief votes with the majority. This is particularly important because the chief justice can shape precedent by joining with the majority, when he might have voted otherwise.

The chief justice selects judges to serve on various judicial committees, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, often called the “wiretap court.” Beyond that, the chief justice holds a variety of other duties, including presiding at impeachment hearings, swearing in the President, and chairing the Judicial Conference of the United States, the top administrative body of the federal court system.

Horwitz said that although the chief’s additional powers are important, they are not as great as they first seem.

“We measure time in terms of presidencies and chief justiceships,” he said. “This exaggerates the role of the chief justice in history. For instance, the Rehnquist court had a lot of aspects who were not just Chief Justice Rehnquist.”

Today, as the president announced the nomination from the Oval Office with the nominee at his side, he praised both Roberts and Rehnquist, for whom Roberts clerked after law school.

“It's fitting that a great chief justice be followed in office by a person who shared his deep reverence for the Constitution, his profound respect for the Supreme Court, and his complete devotion to the cause of justice,” Bush said.

“I am honored and humbled by the confidence that the President has shown in me,” Roberts said as he accepted the nomination. “I'm very much aware that if I am confirmed, I would succeed a man I deeply respect and admire, a man who has been very kind to me for 25 years.”

If Roberts is confirmed, he will be, at age 50, the youngest chief justice since John Adams, Class of 1755, nominated 45-year-old John Marshall in 1801. Roberts also has relatively little experience on the bench, having served as an appeals court judge for just three years and written 47 opinions. But Horwitz said that what is so unique, historically, about the Roberts nomination is his lack of prior political activity.