Bush Taps Conservative Appeals Court Judge John Roberts For Supreme Court

President Bush has chosen appeals court judge John Roberts as his first nominee to the Supreme Court. Roberts is 50 years old and a solidly conservative Republican who has served in the administrations of George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan. For years, he worked as a top corporate attorney before being appointed in 2003 to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which is widely considered the nation's second-highest court.

The Los Angeles Times describes Roberts as "a young, conservative judge with a spotless personal record and a minimal paper trail."

Justices are lifetime appointees and if confirmed to the Supreme Court, Roberts could affect major national issues ranging from abortion to property rights for decades to come. President Bush made the announcement with Roberts at his side Tuesday night in a primetime broadcast from the White House.

* President Bush, speaking at the White House, July 19, 2005.

Bush chose Roberts despite pressure from Republicans and even from his own wife, Laura Bush, that he should name a woman to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. O'Connor was considered a swing vote on the closely divided court. Her retirement earlier this month created the court's first vacancy in 11 years. After Bush made the announcement, Roberts stepped to the microphone to accept his nomination.

* Judge John Roberts, Supreme Court Justice nominee, July 19, 2005.

Roberts is a long-time Bush supporter who donated $1,000 dollars to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. In the Reagan administration, Roberts was special assistant to the attorney general and associate counsel to the president. Between 1989 and 1993, he was principal deputy solicitor general, the government's second highest lawyer. He has argued more than three dozen cases before the Supreme Court.

Roberts wrote the government's brief in a 1991 case in which the Supreme Court held that government could prohibit doctors and clinics who receive federal funds from discussing abortion with their patients. In his brief, Roberts wrote: "We continue to believe that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled." He also stated that the 1973 Court decision finds "no support in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution."

Roberts also co-authored a brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the government in support of the anti-choice group Operation Rescue and six individuals who had obstructed access to reproductive health care clinics.

Pressed during his 2003 confirmation hearing for his own views on abortion, Roberts said: "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. ... There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."

According to the Boston Globe, Roberts' wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, is a lawyer involved with the anti-abortion group Feminists for Life.

In other cases, Roberts argued that the Supreme Court should invalidate a federal affirmative action program; that the Constitution permits religious ceremonies at public high school graduations; and that environmental groups lacked the right to sue under the Endangered Species Act.

Roberts has only served as an appeals court judge for the past two years. George HW Bush first nominated Roberts to the D.C. Circuit in 1992, but his nomination died when Bill Clinton was elected president. The current president nominated Roberts again in 2001, but he didn't get a floor vote in the Senate until 2003.

Roberts was part of a three-judge panel that handed Bush an important victory last week when it ruled that the military tribunals of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could proceed. The decision also found that Bush could deny terrorism captives prisoner-of-war status as outlined by the Geneva Conventions.

Roberts will now undergo a background investigation. Then his nomination will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Committee chairman, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, has said he wants to schedule hearings by late August or September. The court is due to open its next session in October.

Today we spend the hour looking at the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court:

* Jamin Raskin, American University Law professor and author of "Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court vs. the American People."
* Gary Marx, executive director of the Judicial Confirmation Network. He also worked as a coalitions organizer for the Bush-Cheney 2004 national campaign and served as Development Director and lobbyist for The Family Foundation of Virginia.
* Art Eisenberg, legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union. Argued the case Burdek v. Takushi before the Supreme Court.
* Nancy Northup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
* Ralph Neas, president of the People for the American Way foundation. He joins us on the phone from his Washington, D.C. headquarters.

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/20/1415238