Howard Dean filing FOIA request for Roberts' documents

[Rose Siding]

Letter from DNC lawyer explains how you can help...

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/08/join_our_freedo.php

....Senators who will vote on his lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court have requested documents pertaining to 16 of those cases. These were cases Roberts worked on as a senior political appointee in the first Bush administration. The cases (which are listed in the FOIA request linked below) deal with important legal issues like civil rights, equal opportunity for all, women's rights, our right to privacy, and access to justice.

The Senators' request for these documents has gone unanswered, despite the fact that the Justice Department has previously released similar records on other nominees.

So on Monday we will submit a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act from Governor Howard Dean and anyone else who wishes to be a part of it. You can read the formal request and add your name to it here:

http://www.democrats.org/foia

The Freedom of Information Act mandates a response within 20 working days. That date will fall just as the Roberts hearings take place next month, in time for Senators to ask substantive questions about his record....

[babylonsister]

1. Great news! I do not want the dems to just cave in to this guy

and hope they are paying attention to everything that's being said and written, or not being said, written, or shared, like the docs the wh refuse to turn over. I'm glad Dr. Dean is paying attention!

[flpoljunkie]

2. Thanks for the link. Thanks to the Dems for standing up for all Americans.

[wtmusic]

3. You go Howard

Love that man. :loveya:

[Demobrat]

4. Thanks!

I changed my email address and it appears some messages are not being forwarded. I would have hated to have missed this one!

[wli]

5. a congressman has to file an FOIA request for this???

Something is seriously screwed up.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Great op-ed today in Washington Post from Senator Kennedy on Roberts

Why Roberts's Views Matter

By Edward M. Kennedy
Friday, August 19, 2005; A21


Before entrusting Judge John G. Roberts with a lifetime position on the Supreme Court, the Senate must be able to determine whether he will uphold the fundamental principles of our Constitution and laws to continue our nation's march of progress or whether he will adopt a cramped and contorted view of our Constitution that will turn back the clock.

To help us perform our constitutional duty, the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have requested information on 16 of the cases that Roberts handled as deputy solicitor general from 1989 to 1993. The information in those cases relates directly to his personal views on -- and his views on the courts' role in enforcing -- civil rights, disability rights, women's rights and other fundamental rights guaranteed by laws and the Constitution.

As deputy solicitor general -- the No. 2 job in the office that represents the United States in Supreme Court and other federal cases --Roberts represented all the people of the United States, and the people are entitled to access his records from that time. The White House knows his positions, yet it continues to withhold documents that would help us understand his views of key fundamental rights and freedoms.

In an attempt to justify its refusal, the administration relies on a letter written by previous solicitors general in a different context concerning the public release of memoranda written by career lawyers in that office. On its face, the letter does not apply to memoranda written by Roberts. Indeed, as Walter Dellinger, a former acting solicitor general and one of the signatories of that letter, recently stated, "Roberts was writing memos not as a civil service lawyer but as a senior political appointee in a policymaking position, and the judgeship at stake isn't any federal judgeship but the Supreme Court itself."

more...

[Rose Siding]

7. Kick for potential signatories

:kick: