Originally Posted by politicophile

That is true. However, the members of the judiciary committee knew enough about Roberts' record to know:

a. that he is qualified for the job
b. that he will uphold the constitution

The problem is that they also know they will disagree with Roberts' judicial philosophy. Thus, this is not a matter of the Democrats thinking that Roberts won't do his job on the bench: they just think he will vote the wrong way and thus oppose him on pragmatic, political, and inappropriate grounds.