Bush Will Nominate John Roberts (The Left Coaster)

[ailsagirl]

From The Left Coaster
Steve Soto
July 19, 2005

Several news outlets are reporting that Bush will announce the nomination of John Roberts in an hour. As I said several days ago, given the dynamics in play and that Bush could have gone with someone even farther right than Roberts, this to me is a safe choice.

I find it interesting that according to the SAO, Bush didn't offer the nomination to Roberts until early this afternoon, after the stories about Edith Clement were already out there for several hours. Roberts is more conservative than Clement, but not as bad as others Bush could have chosen. Did Bush have someone else in mind and then change course and go with Roberts as a compromise between the "go with a woman" crowd and the American Taliban?

We'll see what he says and how it plays out. As I said, I would rather not have Roberts but given the dynamics and the alternatives, I can live with him based on what I know of him now. But I do wonder about the backstory here, how the Hispanic bloc will react, and how those who wanted a woman to replace O'Connor will react to another white male being put on the court, especially after Clement was left hanging out there for most of the day.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/

[flpoljunkie]

1. Wapo reports that Roberts is not a "movement" conservative.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...



John G. Roberts, 50, has long been considered one of the Republicans' heavyweights amid the largely Democratic Washington legal establishment. Roberts was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2003 by President George W. Bush. (He was also nominated by the first President Bush, but never received a Senate vote). Previously, he practiced law at D.C.'s Hogan & Hartson from 1986-1989 and 1993-2003. Between 1989 and 1993, he was the Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the first Bush administration, helping formulate the administration's position in Supreme Court cases. During the Reagan administration, he served as an aide to Attorney General William French Smith from 1981-1982 and as a an aide to White House Counsel Fred Fielding from 1982-1986.

With impeccable credentials -- Roberts attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School, clerked for Justice William H. Rehnquist on the Supreme Court and has argued frequently before the court -- the question marks about Roberts have always been ideological. While his Republican party loyalties are undoubted, earning him the opposition of liberal advocacy groups, he is not a "movement conservative," and some on the party's right-wing doubt his commitment to their cause. His paper record is thin: as Deputy Solicitor General in 1990, he argued in favor of a government regulation that banned abortion-related counseling by federally-funded family planning programs. A line in his brief noted the Bush administration's belief that Roe v. Wade should be overruled.

As a judge on the D.C. Circuit, Roberts voted with two colleagues to uphold the arrest and detention of a twelve-year old girl for eating french fries on the Metro train, though his opinion noted that "no one is very happy about the events that led to this litigation." In another case, Roberts wrote a dissenting opinion that suggested Congress might lack the power under the Constitution's Commerce Clause to regulate the treatment of a certain species of wildlife.

-- Charles Lane

[Cha]

2. "Eating French Fries on a

metro train"..Bad "12 year old!"!

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. He looks like a nice enough guy.. but his eyes are a little .. freaky

[jfalchion]

4. John G. Roberts, 50

IF confirmed, this putz will be around for 30+ yrs.

[BlakeB]

5. THAT LITTLE GIRL HAD IT COMING!

She was eating French Fries on an American train. The judge was just doing his job in showing that American hating, satanic liberalist nonsense will not be tolerated in these United States of America!

[woodleydem]

6. LOL. But as a former DC resident, the Metro Police does forcefully

enforce the "no eating or drinking" regulations. A woman once got arrested for eating a candy bar on the train. That's why the Metro trains and platforms are so much cleaner than other major city public transportation systems. There are very large signs everywhere that says 'ABSOLUTELY NO FOOD OR DRINK AT ANY TIME.'

[BlakeB]

8. Yeah, I've ridden the DC Metro train before...

and it is very tidey.

[sundancekid]

7. link no workee -- please help

[flpoljunkie]

9. Try these--altho it may not work for long. You must be registered at WaPo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/01/AR2005070100756.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/01/AR2005070100756_pf.html