AP: Senator Leahy Lambastes Robert's Radical Stands

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081600454_pf.html

Leahy Lambastes Roberts' 'Radical' Stands
By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 16, 2005; 7:07 PM


WASHINGTON -- Sen. Patrick Leahy, who will lead the Democratic questioning at John Roberts' confirmation hearings, criticized the Supreme Court nominee Tuesday as an "eager, aggressive advocate" for policies of the Republican far right wing.

One day after the release of 5,000 pages of Reagan-era records, the Vermont Democrat said in a statement that Roberts' views were "among the most radical being offered by a cadre intent on reversing decades of policies on civil rights, voting rights, women's rights, privacy and access to justice."

Leahy stopped short of announcing his opposition to the appointment, in keeping with a call from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid for the rank and file to wait for confirmation hearings before making decisions. But his statement was by far the most critical he has made since President Bush nominated Roberts to the high court, and among the most scathing by any Democrat.

<>"Those papers that we have paint a picture of John Roberts as an eager and aggressive advocate of policies that are deeply tinged with the ideology of the far right wing of his party, then and now," Leahy said in his statement.

He also pressed the Democrats' prior demand for records from Roberts' time as principal deputy solicitor general during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. The White House has refused to make those papers available, and Leahy wrote that in doing so, "they raise the inference that there is much to hide."

[Gloria]

1. Don't do a Voinovich, vote against the bastard!!

eom