Bush Met With Judge Roberts One Day Before Crucial Ruling on Guantanamo Military Tribunals

Last week President Bush announced his nomination of Judge John Roberts to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O" Connor on the U.S Supreme Court. Judge Roberts is a conservative who has served on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit since 2003 and also served in the administrations of George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan. He is a longtime George W Bush supporter who donated $1,000 dollars to his 2000 presidential campaign.

Between 1989 and 1993, Roberts was principal deputy solicitor general, the government's second highest lawyer, under Kenneth Starr. Some Democratic senators have said they want to see all the documents drafted by Roberts when he served in the two previous Republican administrations in order to understand Roberts" views on issues such as abortion, workers' rights, women's rights, civil rights and the environment. Yesterday, the Bush administration said there would not be a blanket release of the documents and that they would instead would look at the requests on a case-by-case basis.

However, Roberts has argued in a number of cases that give clear indication of his stance on some of these issues. He wrote the governments' 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." In other cases, Roberts has 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 was also part of a three-judge panel that handed Bush an important victory the week before Bush announced Roberts nomination to the bench. In fact, the day before the ruling was issued, President Bush interviewed Roberts at the White House. The next day, the court released their ruling 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.

* Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor for The Nation and a national correspondent for Salon.com. He also teaches journalism at Yale University. His latest article is at The Nation online and is titled "The Stakes in Robert's Nomination"

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