Roberts wins US Senate panel's backing

WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee has backed President George W. Bush's nomination of conservative John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States.

The panel recommended confirmation of Roberts to lead the US Supreme Court by the full Republican-led Senate, which appears certain to do so next week.

Fifty-year-old Roberts, a federal appeals judge the past two years, would be the youngest chief justice in two centuries. He would be positioned in the lifetime post to lead the judicial branch of the US government for decades.

- REUTERS