[Announcer:] Behind the smiles: There is new sniping over John Roberts' nomination. Will demands for documents and timing issues stand in the Supreme Court nominee's way? Between the lines: We'll tell you what we're learning about Robert's legal and political judgments by following his paper trails. A presidential test: Mr. Bush personally lobbies lawmakers to pass a controversial trade agreement. Can he make it happen?
[Rep. Robert Menendez,  New Jersey:] This is a bad deal all the way around.
[Announcer:] And revisiting Iraq: The defense secretary arrives unannounced while a top commander talks of a possible start time for a pull-out.
[Unidentified Male:] In the spring and summer of next year.
[Announcer:] Now live from Washington, CNN's
[Inside Politics. Lisa Sylvester:] Thanks for joining us. I'm Lisa Sylvester. We begin with Supreme Court nominee John Roberts under the microscope and the subject of partisan bickering. Even as Roberts continues to make the rounds on the Hill, Republicans and Democrats remain at odds over the start-date for confirmation hearings and whether the administration has made enough of the judge's paper trail public. Documents that have been released are shedding some additional light on Roberts' views and how he might rule on the high court. Here's our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn Correspondent:] On John Roberts' first day at the Justice Department in the summer of 1981, the 26-year-old lawyer was assigned to prepare Sandra Day O'Connor for her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Roberts, who would be poised to succeed O'Connor on the high court nearly a quarter century later, advised her quote, "avoid giving specific responses to any direct questions on legal issues." On judicial activism, documents show Roberts discouraged it supporting Republican legislation instead that would limit the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over abortion, busing and school prayer. On Affirmative Action, Roberts rejected a positive report about the program by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, saying, "there is no recognition of the obvious reason for failure. The Affirmative Action program required the recruiting of inadequately prepared candidates." On school desegregation, Roberts questioned the efficacy of bussing in a draft letter for the attorney general, saying, "we do not believe bussing is necessary to provide the equal educational opportunity mandated by Brown, the Supreme Court decision that made segregation of public facilities unconstitutional. And on sex discrimination, Roberts advocated limits to the law affecting gender equality for college sports.
[Malveaux:] So, Lisa, of course the big question is: What does this really say about Roberts' thinking? Does it really give us a window into his thinking? Well, of course, some legal scholars are saying: Perhaps very little. They say when you look at the formal drafts in the letters, it reflects the administration's ideas, but if you look at the handwritten notes, perhaps you get an own sense of his opinions. Democrats are arguing however, they want recent records, most importantly, that at his time at the solicitor general's office Lisa?
[Sylvester:] Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Thank you very much for that report. In the lead-up to Roberts' confirmation hearings the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is trying to keep the pressure on Republicans. Senator Patrick Leahy is leading the charge against Chairman Arlen Specter's proposal to begin hearings at the end of August, in part because he wants adequate time to review Roberts' records. On the Senate floor today, Leahy urged the White House to release documents from Roberts' work from the first Bush administration, in addition to thousands of pages made public from the Reagan era.
[Begin Video Clip) Sen. Patrick Leahy , Judiciary Committee:] The White House is eager to supply documents it selected and certainly provided it with great fanfare. But we have yet to receive the documents that we have in fact requested. It's an unfortunate pattern we've see too often.
[Sylvester:] Public opinion seems to be on John Roberts' side. A new Quinnipiac poll shows 44 percent of Americans approve of Roberts' nomination. About one-fourth disapprove. A little more than a fourth are unsure. Forty percent of those surveyed say Roberts would make the Supreme Court more conservative, compared to five percent who think he'd make the court more liberal. Twenty-nine percent predict no change. And 53 percent say public opinion of Roberts' nomination should have a great deal of influence on whether he's confirmed, but only six percent believe it will have a great deal of influence. Unlike John Roberts, you don't see President Bush on Capitol Hill every day, but he was there today. Evidence that a trade agreement he's promoting is facing a tough fight in Congress. Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, has more on the pact and showdown vote that could come as soon as tonight.
[Ed Henry, Cnn Congressional Correspondent:] With key initiatives like Social Security reform stalled, President Bush made a rare visit to Capitol Hill to rally his own party behind a struggling trade pact. Republicans emerged fired-up, insisting the free trade deal with help the United States by shoring up emerging Democracies in Central America.
[Unidentified Male:] Why in the world should people stick to the path of democracy if supposedly the richest, most generous democracy in the world rejects a trade agreement with these countries?
[Henry:] But Democrats shot back: The deal is bad for America and will lead to more lost of manufacturing jobs.
[Rep. Nancy Pelosi , Minority Leader:] The American people will know in a very clear way the difference between how the Democrats are fighting for them and how the Republicans are ignoring their aspirations.
[Henry:] Republican leaders counter the pact will create jobs and guaranteed victory.
[Rep. Tom Delay , Majority Leader:] It will be a tough vote, but we will pass CAFTA tonight. We will honor our commitments to our neighbors to the south. We will protect our national security and we will do it all with very few Democrats.
[Henry:] But the president is facing major defections in his own ranks, so the Republican leadership has resorted to wheeling and dealing on the Highway bill, promising lawmakers roads and bridges to scrounge up votes. But that has not swayed Republican opponents worried it will decimate the textile and sugar industries.
[Rep. Walter Jones , North Carolina:] If we don't protect the jobs in America one day, the flags that cover the coffins of the brave who die for this country, the flags that cover those coffins might say "made in China or "made in Honduras." Let's save America and God help us save America and let's do what is right and kill this enemy that's called CAFTA.
[Henry:] The wheeling and dealing will continue into the wee small hours. We're not expecting a vote until at least midnight and it's not just the president who is twisting arms. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was just spotted in the Capitol lobbying, wavering Republicans right down to the final hours here. It gives you an idea of just how high the political stakes are for this White House Lisa?
[Sylvester:] And it certainly sounds like it's going to be a long night there. Now, with the president on the Hill, did lawmakers bring up the subject of a troop pull-out from Iraq?
[Henry:] Well, we didn't here about it coming up in the actual meeting, but it's interesting some pressure is coming from more Republicans. Remember, this resolution that was authored a couple months back Republican Walter Jones, saying the president needs to come up with a timetable next year to start bringing the troops home. We are now getting word that there are two more Republican who have signed on: Republican Jim Leech, a veteran of the International Relations Committee, did not appear at the initial press conference for this, but we're told he has signed on as a co-sponsor and now Republican Wayne Gilchrest, a Congressman who was actually wounded in Vietnam when he was a Marine, is going to sign on tomorrow at a second press conference that Walter Jones is having to add some momentum to this push to get the troops home from Iraq Lisa?
[Sylvester:] All right. Thank you very much. Ed Henry from Capitol Hill and of course, we will have Mr. Jones on our show later in this broadcast. Now, back on the trade front: Would CAFTA hurt worker security? Would it help national security? Two Congressman will debate those questions ahead. Plus: The drive to pass an emergency bill compromise. Will it do anything to lower gas prices? We'll tell you what's in the measure and what's not. And New York Governor George Pataki's big announcement: Where will his new path lead him?