John Roberts, the nominee for chief justice of the US Supreme Court, won approval from the Senate's Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Roberts, 50, was approved by the panel by a bipartisan vote of 13-5, and is expected to get a confirmation vote by the full Senate next Thursday.

All 10 Republicans on the panel voted for Roberts's nomination, along with three Democrats.

With all 55 Republicans in the 100-member Senate to support him, Roberts, a federal appeals court judge for the past two years, seems certain to win confirmation to become the country's 17th chief justice before the court begins a new term on Oct. 3.

If confirmed, Roberts, nominated by President George W. Bush earlier this month to succeed the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died on Sept. 3, would become the youngest chief justice in more than 200 years.

Roberts was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1955 and was raised in Indiana. He got his undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1976 and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979.

Source: Xinhua