Attitudes of hearing parents and deaf and hard-of-hearing people toward genetic testing for deafness are also important to consider, although such attitudes may not be predictive of behavior.
Two other cases with higher profiles, one in Florida and one in Virginia, are headed toward hearings on the issues that were decided in Michigan.
The office has issued more than a score of preliminary reports pointing to possible abuses and prodding the committee toward hearings on alleged violations by Representatives Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters.
A Justice Department spokesman, Erik Ablin, said the government was working toward quick hearings for detainees, but was determined to take every precaution to avoid having dangerous people released.
This debate, and Mr. Roberts's role in it, are drawing heightened scrutiny -- and criticism -- as he heads toward confirmation hearings next month for the Supreme Court.
Although many of those at the hearings directed their anger toward the transportation agency, the cuts are a direct result of lower tax revenues and a decision by state legislators to reduce the agency's funds.
Julie Cavanagh, a public-school teacher in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and a member of the Grassroots Education Movement, said a move toward OATH hearings would be a mistake.
The idea inflamed passions on both sides on Tuesday, when fiscal issues careening toward Congress roiled hearings and deliberations and spurred political recriminations as Republican leaders accused Democrats of steering the economy back into recession.
A third federal judge upheld the constitutionality of the Obama health care law on Tuesday, reinforcing the divide in the lower courts as the case moves toward its first hearings on the appellate level.
He said that in spite of his reservations about aspects of the bill, he would urge the president to sign it, and that his committee would hold hearings next year, with a view toward fixing the bill if necessary.
