[originaltext] President Bush named federal appeals judge John G. Roberts Jr

President Bush named federal appeals judge John G. Roberts Jr. to fill the first Supreme Court vacancy in a decade on Tuesday, delighting Republicans and unsettling Democrats by picking a young jurist of impeccably conservative credentials.
   If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, the 50-year-old Roberts would succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,  long a swing vote on a court divided over abortion, affirmative action, states’ rights and more.
   Bush offered Roberts the job in a lunchtime telephone call, then invited him to the White House for a nationally televised, prime-time announcement. The president said his choice will "strictly apply the Constitution in laws, not legislate from the bench."
   The confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee was expected to begin in late August or early September. That would allow plenty of time for the Senate to meet Bush’s timetable of a vote before the high court begins its new term on Oct. 3.
   Bush administration officials arranged for Roberts to pay his first courtesy calls on leading senators on Wednesday after breakfast with Bush in the White House residence. Republican reaction to the appointment was strongly supportive, while Democrats responded in measured terms.
   "I’m just a little surprised that he’s already subject to criticism. But this is America," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. , chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
   Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass,, reflecting an emerging Dem ocratic strategy, said he would use the hearings to probe whether Roberts can "separate his personal ideology frmn the rule of law."
   Advocacy groups on the left and the right have made plans for multi million-dollar confirmation campaigns featuring television advertising and grass-roots organizing designed to sway swing vote senators. The ferocity of the battle is undetermined, however.