WASHINGTON

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ROBERTS’S DOCUMENTS ARE ‘OUT OF BOUNDS’

The White House yesterday warned Democrats not to make extensive requests for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’s legal writings in previous Republican administrations, saying many such documents are “out of bounds.”

Separately, the Supreme Court nominee waved off questions about whether he was a member of a conservative legal organization. Judge Roberts, on his fourth day paying courtesy calls on senators, hasn’t answered questions since President Bush nominated him – as is typical for nominees – and one Democratic senator said the matter wouldn’t affect the confirmation.

With Mr. Bush’s first chance to shape the Supreme Court at stake, the White House is hoping to avoid the kind of showdown with Democrats over document requests that has stymied Senate confirmation of some of the president’s other high profile nominees. Asked repeatedly to say whether the administration was open to making Judge Roberts’s writings as a former administration lawyer available, White House press secretary Scott McClellan avoided saying “no” outright.

“We want to work with the members of the Senate to make sure that they have the appropriate information so that they can do their job,” Mr. McClellan said.

The issue could be critical as the Senate prepares to decide whether to confirm Judge Roberts as Bush’s replacement for retiring Justice O’Connor.

Democrats have offered no indication that they plan an all-out battle against Judge Roberts. But since his two-year tenure on the federal bench has left him with a limited public record, they have hinted they may seek memos, briefs, and other documents he wrote while working for two Republican presidents to shed more light on his stands on such key issues as abortion, the environment, and federal jurisdiction.

– Associated Press

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN URGES CAUTION ON ESTATE-TAX REPEAL

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley, said Republican efforts to limit the estate tax would be damaged if Majority Leader Frist rushes into a losing vote on permanently repealing the levy. The Republicans, who control the Senate, currently lack the 60 votes necessary to overcome opposition from Democrats to repealing the tax, Mr. Grassley said. Even finding 60 votes to reduce the estate-tax rate and exempt most estates is proving tenuous, he said.

“The hope of negotiating with Democrats to get 60 votes on something less than outright repeal is based on the proposition that this estate tax issue is a problem, particularly for Democratic senators up for re-election in rural states,” Mr. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in an interview. “If they get a chance to vote for estate-tax repeal, but we’re still short of 60 votes, they’re off the hook.”

Bob Stevenson, Dr. Frist’s communications director, said last week that the Tennessee Republican “intends to begin the process of bringing the Senate to repeal.” Opponents of the estate tax, which more than 98% of Americans don’t pay, call it the “death tax.” Republican supporters of the repeal say the tax hurts heirs to family farms and businesses and in some cases forces them to sell inherited assets.

– Bloomberg News

SOUTHEAST

JURY TO DECIDE FATE OF MENTALLY RETARDED MAN

YORKTOWN, Va. – Prospective jurors gathered yesterday for a court proceeding that the judge told them was unique in judicial history – judging the mental competence of a killer whose case led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The high court justices sided with the argument by Daryl Atkins’s lawyers that executing the mentally retarded was unconstitutional. Three years later, whether that saves Atkins’s own life is still unclear. Atkins, 27, has been on death row for the 1996 robbery and murder of an Air Force enlisted man. While the high court’s ruling in June 2002 protected the severely mentally retarded, it provided little guidance for the far greater number of inmates, like Atkins, who are borderline cases.

If Atkins fails to meet that burden, Circuit Judge Prentis Smiley Jr. told potential jurors, another court already has determined that he will be executed.

– Associated Press

FOUR ADULT BOY SCOUT LEADERS DIE IN ELECTRICAL ACCIDENT

BOWLING GREEN, Va. – Four adult Boy Scout leaders were killed yesterday afternoon in an electrical accident during the opening day of the organization’s 2005 Jamboree.

A Jamboree spokesman, Gregg Shields, said the accident occurred between 4:30 and 5 p.m. while the leaders were setting up camp. One other leader and a contract worker were injured and hospitalized, Mr. Shields said. No youth Scouts were seriously hurt, he said. He did not say how many might have sustained minor injuries. Mr. Shields did not have additional details about the accident, including the victims’ names. “We have an investigation under way,” he said.

– Associated Press

NATIONWIDE

LARGE SWATH OF AMERICA SUFFERS HEAT WAVE

A large swath of America suffered through another miserable day of sizzling temperatures and steamy humidity yesterday – a deadly heat wave that had people cranking up air-conditioners, scrambling to cooling shelters, and running through sprinklers in the park.

Temperatures soared past 100 in several cities, and the National Weather Service posted excessive heat warnings and advisories from Illinois to Louisiana and from Nebraska to the District of Columbia.

“It feels like basically just walking around in an oven,” 20-year-old McDarren Paschal said as he mowed grass at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

The blistering heat has caused numerous deaths. The Chicago Fire Department said three people died Sunday from what appeared to be heat-related injuries, but added that the exact causes of death have yet to be confirmed.

Twenty-four people, most of them homeless, have died from heat this summer in the Phoenix area.

– Associated Press