Roberts Starts Work at Supreme Court

Roberts Starts Work at Supreme Court

Fri Sep 30,11:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts was getting ready for his first bench appearance and dealing with personnel matters on Friday, his first day on the job.

Roberts, 50, was confirmed by the Senate a day earlier as the nation's youngest chief justice in two centuries.

His new office suite in the Supreme Court faces away from the Capitol. The space had also been used by William H. Rehnquist, the chief justice who died on Sept. 3 after a yearlong battle with thyroid cancer.

Roberts has asked Rehnquist's staff to stay, and he has hired Rehnquist's three law clerks. In addition, he will bring two law clerks and a secretary from his previous job as an appeals court judge.

Roberts, who had been a Supreme Court law clerk in 1980-81, made the rounds of the court on Friday, greeting employees.

One of his first actions was to make public his policy for dealing with cases in which a relative is a lawyer. Roberts, whose wife is a partner at a Washington law firm, said he would follow the recusal practice used by most of the other justices. The justices stay out of cases if they have a direct financial interest, through the relative.

Among Roberts' first duties Monday will be presiding over arguments in two cases.

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