US: Cloudy skies over its Florida landing site yesterday forced Nasa to postpone the return to earth of space shuttle Discovery, prolonging by at least a day the first shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
The most ardent supporters of John G Roberts Jr have had a few moments of heartburn in the month since President Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court, but conservative advocacy groups say that nothing they have learned has dampened their fundamental support.
In a sign that the backing remains solid on the right despite the revelation last week that he helped gay activists win a landmark Supreme Court case in 1996, organisers said Mr Roberts' cause will be energetically embraced by speakers at Justice Sunday II, a Family Research Council production that will be broadcast live to churches around the country next weekend from Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville.
Speakers include house majority leader Tom DeLay and Charles Colson, the former Nixon administration official who heads Prison Fellowship Ministries.
Christian activists had been forced into a reassessment when the LA Times revealed on Thursday that Mr Roberts had a limited pro bono role preparing gay groups involved in a 1996 case for a Supreme Court hearing, when he was working at a Washington law firm.
The case was one of three that James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, singled out when he said on his nationally syndicated radio show two years ago that Justice Anthony Kennedy is "the most dangerous man in America".
In their public statements, religious conservatives held their tongues. Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy at Focus on the Family, said the group views the revelation about Mr Roberts' work for gay activists as "disappointing news".
"But we understand his role within his law firm, and it doesn't alter our view of him. We believe he'll be a Supreme Court justice who will interpret the constitution as it was written, not as he'd like it to be."
Strategists for the administration and the senate Republican leadership said they actually considered the news helpful.
They explained for the first time that they have calculated that support for Mr Roberts among Republican senators is locked down and that now the White House wants to try to attract Democrats by packaging Mr Roberts as more centrist and less doctrinaire than had originally been assumed.
The White House said he worked on the case for less than 10 hours and he always agreed when someone at his law firm asked for help on a pro bono case.
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, perpetually monitors the mood of economic and social conservatives and said they remain "generally happy" with Mr Roberts.
President of the Family Research Council Tony Perkins said in an interview that he had "anticipated some bumps along the way" as conservatives learned more about him.
"We trust that the president understands that his legacy in large part will be based on the Supreme Court and the nominations he makes," Mr Perkins said.
"And we trust the statements that John Roberts has made about his judicial philosophy and the opinions he has written. We will verify that through the confirmation hearings."
The suggestion by Mr Perkins that conservatives, as well as liberals, want a grilling for Mr Roberts at his nationally televised confirmation hearings - scheduled to begin on September 6th - reflects residual fear on the right that he could prove to be a rerun of Justice David Souter, who was little known and was assumed to be conservative when he was nominated by president George HW Bush, but became part of the court's liberal bloc. - (LA Times - Washington Post service)