As the U.S. Senate officially confirmed John Roberts’ appointment Thursday as chief justice of the United States, both U.S. judges and ISU faculty say it is too early to tell what direction Roberts will lead the nation’s highest court.

“I think his impact will be unknown for some time to come,” said U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Shields of Iowa’s southern district. “He’s a younger man with a lot of experience with the Supreme Court and a lot of ideas.”

Shields said despite Roberts’ portrayal in the media, it is too soon to jump to conclusions about his ideology.

“Critics and pundits have been forecasting that he’ll be conservative,” he said. “But that really still remains to be seen.”

Shields said history has seen more than one justice surprise the president with their political ideologies.

“Justice Byron White, for instance, was appointed by John Kennedy but turned out to be quite conservative,” he said.

Although the subject of judicial activism sparked some heated debate during Roberts’ confirmation hearing, Shields said he doesn’t worry about the new chief justice legislating from the bench.

“I believe that he has no agenda other than to be a Supreme Court Justice and uphold the Constitution of the United States,” he said. “I think he’s intellectually honest.”

Dirk Deam, political science lecturer, said he disagreed. Deam said he is worried Roberts’ political views may affect his decisions on the court.

“I’m concerned that his own judicial philosophy may color the Supreme Court’s rulings,” Deam said. “We didn’t get enough information about him from his confirmation hearings not to have concern.”

He said he thought Roberts left too many questions unanswered during his confirmation hearing.

“I think he could have been more forthcoming about his judicial style and discuss some cases he’s worked on in the past,” he said.

Supreme Court candidates are not supposed to discuss specific issues that may come before the court in the near future, Deam said, but he thought Roberts should have talked more about general areas of the law.

“We ought to know a little more about him,” he said.

Deam said he doesn’t expect Roberts to make any drastic changes in the court in the near future.

“I’ll be very surprised if something shocking occurs early on,” he said.

“That doesn’t often happen. It takes awhile for anything important to emerge, especially when we’re talking about a lifetime appointment like the Supreme Court.”

Jill Bystydzienski, director of women’s studies, said after the confirmation hearing, she was left with more questions than answers regarding issues relating to women and minorities.

“It’s a mystery,” she said.

“I’m concerned about how he would rule on cases regarding abortion and affirmative action.

“On the one hand, it’s encouraging to hear him say that he respects precedent, but, on the other, he was very elusive when asked questions about some important issues,” she said.

She also expressed concern that Roberts’ stances on issues may influence the Supreme Court’s future decisions.