WASHINGTON -- John Roberts moved closer to confirmation as chief justice of the United States yesterday as the Senate Judiciary Committee's senior Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, announced Roberts will get his vote.

The committee, with 10 Republicans and eight Democrats, is expected to vote today to recommend that the full Senate next week confirm Roberts, a 50-year-old federal appellate judge, to replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died earlier this month.

Also yesterday, President Bush had breakfast with four senators -- two Republicans and two Democrats -- to begin formal consultations on a nominee to replace the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor.

Bush gave no indication whom he is considering but seemed to indicate he will make a nomination relatively soon rather than waiting until later in the fall or letting O'Connor stay on for the full term through the end of June.

In announcing his support for Roberts, Leahy said that after listening to the nominee testify before the committee he was left "with the understanding that he would not seek to overrule or undercut the right of a right of a woman to choose [on the issue of abortion], and I trust that he's a person of honor and integrity and he'll act accordingly."

Leahy said he was concerned that Roberts has not demonstrated an "appropriate deference" to the constitutionality of acts of Congress. But he added that he believes Roberts will respect congressional authority overall and not "heavily defer to presidential authority."

Noting that he wished Roberts had answered more questions asked by committee members, Leahy nonetheless concluded, "I can only take him at his word that he does not have an ideological agenda."

But Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who is also on the committee, did not reach the same conclusion and said he will oppose Roberts. In a speech on the Senate floor, he said that Roberts' writings as a young lawyer working in the Reagan White House showed that he was "an aggressive activist" who showed himself ready to "limit the basic values that we have achieved" in civil rights, women's rights and disability rights.

Kennedy added, "Nominees must earn their confirmation by providing us with full knowledge of the values and convictions they will bring to decisions that may profoundly affect our progress as a nation. Judge Roberts has not done so. His repeated allegiance to the rule of law reveals little about the values he would bring to the job of chief justice of the United States."

Kennedy's colleague, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, last year's Democratic presidential nominee, also said he will not support Roberts. He mocked the confirmation process as "little more than an empty shell" because, he said, "there is no real exchange of information between senators and the nominee."

On Monday Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will vote against Roberts but also made clear that he was not making the vote a test of party loyalty and said Democrats should "vote their conscience." At least five Senate Democrats have now said they'll support Roberts, including Max Baucus of Montana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Tim Johnson of South Dakota.

Some Democrats have said they would like to know who will be nominated to fill the seat being vacated O'Connor before they vote on Roberts next week.

Those at yesterday's meeting with Bush included Leahy, Reid, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Specter said he urged Bush at the meeting yesterday to wait a while before announcing a nominee. Asked how that suggestion was met, Specter said, "The president was noncommittal. The body language was not very positive."

O'Connor has said she will stay on the court until her successor is named. Specter said he has talked to her about staying on for a full term. "She's prepared to do that. It would be quite a sacrifice for her, but she's prepared to do it if she is asked." But Frist said he urged Bush to act swiftly, saying that if he does, the process could be completed by Thanksgiving.

Reid said, "It's a cinch by Christmas," and added, laughing, "Only kidding."

Specter repeated his prediction that the next nomination "is going to be a great deal more contentious than the Roberts' nomination. And I say that because bubbling just below the surface was a lot of frustration in the hearing which we just concluded."

Specter also raised the possibility of a third vacancy with Justice John Paul Stevens. "He's 85 but in good health. And if that comes next year, there could be, with three new justices, a shift in the court. And that's a problem for both the right and the left. It isn't one side of the political spectrum or the other."

Reid said that the four senators discussed names of potential nominees and gave Bush their candid opinions but the president did not respond.

Leahy and Reid both said they would strenuously object to some of the names being discussed and urged the president to select someone who is open-minded and not an ideologue. Leahy said he stressed he would like to see a woman, Hispanic or African American justice. The court now contains one woman, one African American and six white males -- seven if Roberts is confirmed.

The list of possible nominees includes Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and federal appellate judges Samuel Alito, Alice Batchelder, Janice Rogers Brown, Edith Brown Clement, Emilio Garza, Edith Holland Jones, J. Michael Luttig, Michael McConnell, Priscilla Richman Owen, Edward Charles Prado, and J. Harvie Wilkinson. But there is growing speculation Bush may decide to surprise many and name someone not on that list.