Washington ? Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he would oppose confirmation of Chief Justice-nominee John Roberts, questioning Roberts’ commitment to civil rights and accusing the Bush administration of stonewalling requests for documents that might shed light on his views.

At the same time, Reid readily predicted Roberts will win Senate confirmation, coupling the forecast with a warning of sorts to President Bush as he considers candidates for a second vacancy on the Supreme Court. “No one should think that just automatically they’re all going to be easy like this one,” he said.

Reid is one of four senators invited to a White House meeting with Bush today to discuss the vacancy created by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s decision to retire.

The Nevada senator made his comments as Democrats began taking sides in advance of next week’s confirmation vote. President Bush named Roberts, a 50-year-old appeals court judge and former lawyer in two Republican administrations, to succeed the late William H. Rehnquist.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced he will vote for confirmation, and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., edged toward an endorsement as well. Roberts also commands overwhelming if not unanimous support among the Senate’s 55 Republicans.

“After reviewing Judge John Roberts’ credentials and meeting with him privately, I have found that he meets my criteria for judges. And that is: only the brightest, most objective minds shall serve on the bench,” Baucus said,” who added the decision was not an easy one.

“I’ve not seen anything that would cause me to vote against” Roberts, said Nelson, who is seeking re-election next year in Republican Nebraska and often crosses party lines to support Bush’s legislative proposals.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., left, gestures during a news conference Tuesday in Washington. Reid announced that he will vote against Chief Justice nominee John Roberts.

Reid had successfully urged fellow Democrats to refrain from taking positions on the appointment until after the completion of last week’s confirmation hearings and the regular Tuesday closed-door meeting of the rank-and-file.

“This is a very close question for me. But I must resolve my doubts in favor of the American people whose rights would be in jeopardy if John Roberts turned out to be the wrong person for the job,” he said.

Referring to publicly released memos that date to Robert’s tenure as a Reagan administration lawyer, Reid said they showed the young attorney “played a significant role in shaping and advancing the Republican agenda to roll back civil rights protections.”

“No one suggests that John Roberts was motivated by bigotry or animosity toward minorities or women,” Reid said. “But these memos lead one to question whether he truly appreciated the history of the civil rights struggle. He wrote about discrimination as an abstract concept, not as a flesh and blood reality for countless of his fellow citizens.”