Roberts v. Sullivan Roberts?

[Bluerthanblue]

in reasearching all i can find on nominee John Roberts, i found this :

"A proponent of states' rights even if it costs the safety of women and girls, in a 1999 radio interview he said, "We have gotten to the point these days where we think the only way we can show we're serious about a problem is if we pass a federal law, whether it is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) or anything else. The fact of the matter is: conditions are different in different states and state laws can be more relevant." (from NOW)


and from the site Ms. Roberts co-sponsers 'Feminists for Life'i recieved the following 'personal' reply :

"In addition to our College Outreach Program, our International Outreach Program, and our Women Deserve Better campaign, Feminists for Life has worked to ensure the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and enhanced enforcement for child support, as well as fighting against child exclusion provisions in the Welfare Reform Act."

MR Roberts co-authored a brief arguing that women who were kept from entering an abortion clinic by Operation Rescue demonstrators were not being 'deprived' of their 'rights' saying:

"..that the Supreme Court had not previously decided whether women were protected from private conspiracies to violate their equal protection rights, under the relevant civil rights statute,and urged the Court not to reach a decision on this question, rather than arguing that the Court should definitively state that women should be afforded protection by the statute, as was within the Court’s power in this case."

The SCOTUS agreed with Roberts- BUT Justice Souter, while joining the majority, disdainfully rejected Roberts’ arguments, writing that:

" It is also obvious that petitioners' conduct was motivated "at least in part" by the invidious belief that individual women are not capable of deciding whether to terminate a pregnancy, or that they should not be allowed to act on such a decision. Petitioners' blanket refusal to allow any women access to an abortion clinic overrides the individual class member's choice, no matter whether she is the victim of rape or incest, whether the abortion may be necessary to save her life, or even whether she is merely seeking advice or information about her options. Petitioners' conduct is designed to deny every woman the opportunity to exercise a constitutional right that only women possess. Petitioners' conspiracy, which combines massive defiance of the law with violent obstruction of the constitutional rights of their fellow citizens, represents a paradigm of the kind of conduct that the statute was intended to cover."

Must make for some interesting dinner table discussions?

more info about 'potential Justice Roberts @
http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/John_G._Roberts_Jr