Bush's two-fer.

Byline: The Register-Guard

President Bush made a deft move when he nominated John Roberts to replace William Rehnquist as chief justice of the United States. Bush's decision also promises to cement Rehnquist's unfinished legacy. After all the vacancies are filled, Roberts is likely to find himself in the same position as Rehnquist: presiding over a shaky conservative majority able to achieve its aims through gradual change rather than sudden lurches to the right.

The political benefits to Bush are clear. Rehnquist's death Saturday at age 80 raised the prospect of three Supreme Court confirmation fights in the Senate: One over Roberts' nomination to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who announced her retirement seven weeks ago; a second over the elevation of a sitting justice, perhaps Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas, to the position of chief justice; and a third to fill the vacancy created by the promotion. The president has consolidated two of those struggles by switching Roberts over to the Rehnquist position, and can husband his political capital for the battle over the O'Connor vacancy.

Roberts was coasting to confirmation in hearings that were to begin Tuesday on his nomination to succeed O'Connor. Winning Senate approval as chief justice should present few additional difficulties. Even those who draw troubling conclusions from Roberts' writings during his tenure in the Reagan administration's Justice Department, or from his brief period of service as a federal appeals court judge, concede that he has a temperate style. The American Bar Association has rated him well-qualified. Now Roberts' critics will breathe a silent sigh of relief that neither Scalia nor Thomas, the Supreme Court's conservative fire-breathers, will become chief justice.

Roberts served as Rehnquist's clerk a quarter of a century ago, at a time when Rehnquist was often the court's lone conservative voice. By the time Rehnquist became chief justice in 1986, the court had begun to shift in his direction. But the shift was never complete, and Rehnquist evolved into a consensus-builder and efficient court administrator. His court chipped away at the edges of precedents allowing affirmative action, barring discrimination, protecting criminal defendants' rights, maintaining the separation of church and state, and establishing women's right to choose an abortion. But those precedents still stand, and in important respects were reinforced under Rehnquist.

The Senate has a duty to learn what it can about Roberts' thinking, but so far he shows every sign of being cast from the same mold as his former mentor. As chief justice, he would preside over a similarly divided court - though perhaps aided by a more reliably conservative associate than O'Connor proved to be. Like Rehnquist, who served 33 1/2 years on the court, Roberts, at age 50, can be expected to influence the court's direction for decades. Rehnquist's ideas of limited government power have grown in influence, but he did not live to see them prevail. By choosing Roberts, Bush will lengthen Rehnquist's shadow.