Fox News correspondent Greg Kelly is standing by with the story -- Greg.

GREG KELLY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Brit, if President Bush ever had hopes that the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown from the California Supreme Court to the U.S Court of Appeals would run smoothly through the Senate with minimal controversy, well, he's not getting his wish at all. Controversy has dogged this nomination from the start. Now, as the nomination moves closer to the Senate floor for action, the battle lines are forming as Democrats consider filibustering or delaying a vote on Justice Brown in the full Senate.

Now today, another group of prominent African-Americans weighed in against the nomination on Capitol Hill, a day after conservative blacks complained that some Democrats have a stereotype that blacks can't be conservative. Brown is a conservative jurist, and for many Democrats and black groups, that is just not a good fit. However, some critics of the nomination insist that it's not so much about race as questions about judicial temperament, her rulings and qualifications.

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DR. DOROTHY HEIGHT, NAT'L COUNCIL OF NEGRO WOMEN: She has demonstrated a strong, persistent and disturbing hostility towards affirmative action, towards civil rights enforcement.

JULIAN BOND, CHMN. NAACP BOARD OF DIRECTORS: This time the nominee is not only black, not only extreme, but also patently unqualified. She was rated not qualified by the California Bar Judicial Nomination Evaluation Commission.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Judge Brown has received strong support in her own state of California for her leadership and for her record of interpreting the law and not making law.

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KELLY: Well, now the conservative group, Committee For Justice, is taking the cause of Justice Brown to the airwaves in a television commercial, which will be on the air in South Carolina for three days. Now, it celebrates her life story, her humble origins and takes it also takes a shot at John Edwards, who's running for the Democratic nomination for president.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The daughter of a sharecropper said she would become an honor student and finish high school. Some people said no way. When Janice went to college and said she would work through law school as a single mother, again they said no way. Today, President Bush wants this highly qualified judge on the D.C. Federal Court of Appeals, the second highest court in America. And now John Edwards says no way. Shame on you, Senator Edwards.

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KELLY: Well, South Carolina is one of the few states where John Edwards is pulling at least halfway decently. Now, the ad aims to put a dent in Edwards' black support in South Carolina. Edwards is on the Judiciary Committee, which will likely vote tomorrow on the nomination. It will probably make it out of committee, but Democrats haven't yet made it known if they are going to filibuster. But it would not be a shock if they did -- Brit.

HUME: Greg, thank you, sir.

Next on SPECIAL REPORT, a couple of Republican victories in the south. What do they say, the victories, if anything, about the national campaign ahead? The Fox All-Stars next.

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