With the President's first nominee to the Supreme Court, John G. Roberts, likely headed for confirmation, The New York Times' David D. Kirkpatrick reports that Republican Senators -- conservatives and moderates alike -- say they won't go nearly as easy on Bush's next nominee.

Now, both socially conservative and more liberal Republican senators say they may vote against confirmation of the next nominee if the pick leans too far to the left or the right on prominent issues like abortion rights.

Any Republican defection could provide cover for Democrats who want to oppose confirmation, protecting them politically in Republican-leaning states. Democrats have vowed to dig in for a tough fight over the nominee to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor because she was a pivotal swing vote on the court.

"It is going to be different," said Senator Lincoln Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island, who is socially liberal and has said he will vote to confirm Judge Roberts.

Mr. Chafee said he would apply a more skeptical standard to the next nominee because of the balance of the court and might even oppose a jurist similar to Judge Roberts. "I will be looking very carefully" at the next nominee's views on privacy rights, "separation of church and state," and the scope of federal power, he said.

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On the conservative side of the party, [Kansas Senator Sam] Brownback and Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, another member of the Judiciary Committee, devoted much of their time for questioning Judge Roberts to delivering messages to the White House about the importance of overturning precedents supporting abortion rights.

Although Roberts is likely to be a vote for social conservatives on a wide range of issues, it's not clear that he is as intent on actively overturning precedent as many on the religious right would have hoped.

If President Bush nominates another Roberts -- essentially a corporate conservative who shares some affinity with the social right -- it indeed would not be surprising to see someone like Brownback withhold support. And just the same, if President Bush nominates another Roberts, who seems to stand to the right of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on social issues (even if only slightly), it's not clear that Chafee can politically afford to offer support.

So who can President Bush safely choose? Maybe he should just listen to Senate Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) who recently suggested that O'Connor stay on the Court an extra year, thus deferring the battle over her replacement.