Tom Oliphant: Roberts throws a curve

[paineinthearse]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/09/15/roberts_throws_a_curve/

Roberts throws a curve
By Thomas Oliphant | September 15, 2005

WASHINGTON ''WELCOME to 'Night Court,' " said a smiling Democratic Senator Richard Durbin to a deadpan John Roberts as the confirmation hearings for the country's 17th chief justice droned into their 12th hour. It was late, but before the evening session was over there was one more instructive lesson into the nominee's distinguished past that ended up undercutting the Democrats' efforts to use inference instead of evidence to suggest that Roberts is an agenda-driven right-winger.

President Bush may have made no bones about his admiration for Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, offering them as his models for the Supreme Court. But in nominating Roberts, and off his diligent performance in the confirmation process, Bush has ended up disquieting his conservative supporters more than antagonizing progressives. The guy is coming off like a judge who happens to be conservative as opposed to a conservative judge.

The exchange with Senator Durbin of Illinois was over one of the most shameful episodes of the Ronald Reagan era, when there was an attempt to chip at the foundations of civil rights law. Early in Reagan's first term, in a move that deeply split the young administration, there was an effort to allow tax deductions for tuition paid to private schools that were flagrantly racist. None was more so than Bob Jones University -- which at the time forbade black and white students from socializing. Had the effort succeeded, segregation could have received a huge economic boost via the back door.

Reagan's move was blocked in a Supreme Court decision more than 20 years ago. Eight justices on a conservative court opposed. The lone dissenter, however, was William Rehnquist, for whom Roberts had just finished clerking. Moreover, Roberts moved on to Reagan's Justice Department and then his White House counsel's office. While he played no active role in the case, the young lawyer did write at least two of his famous memos on the subject in 1982 and 1983.

more....

[Kolesar]

1. "a strong evidentiary peg on which to hang a ''no" vote has not been found

That is because he has been obfuscating and filibustering like Condi Rice. Roberts is going to rip the heart out of progressive legislation of the last century at the first chance.

[depakid]

2. What a bunch of crap.

Guess Oliphant wasn't listening when Robert's said that Congress could overturn the Supreme Court's decision in the Kelo case- which would be a direct repudiation of exactly what Marshall set out in Marbury v. Madison.

Whether that was a slip of the tongue whether it belies a Scalia/Thomas style deence to Congress is hard to say- but Oliphant's coming across like an apologist here. He's gotten duped, it seems- and is now trying to dupe others.

More MSM garbage.

[paineinthearse]

3. Share your thoughts with him

Thomas Oliphant's e-mail address is [e-mail]