July 20, 2005 by lonbud
Much Ado
President Bush has named his first appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, The Hon. John G. Roberts, of Washington, D.C. Widely hailed as a thoughtful, intelligent man, with a distinguished pedigree in Law and a record of exemplary practice both before and above the Bar, Mr. Roberts would appear to be a shoo-in for confirmation in the current climate.
Sorry, Eli.
Most of the schpilkes, and a large degree of the Right’s satisfaction with Mr. Roberts would seem to center on his having written in 1991 a legal brief that declared, “We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled.”
Don’t people understand that after Roe v. Wade is overturned, none of the right girls will even want an abortion?
Fortunately, those who might will still be able to afford a good one. For the rest, chastity belts and scarlet letters ought to be back in fashion soon.
DoubleB - July 21, 2005 @ 10:16 am
ld,
you should have taken over when jimmy swaggert got busted with the prostitue.
bill dawson - July 23, 2005 @ 3:52 am
kudos to the left for not “ovary acting” and wasting their firepower on defeating this seeming moderate (compared to the Heinrich Himmler clone waiting for Rehnquist to keel over)…
wd
lonbud - July 23, 2005 @ 10:41 am
i guess the left should kindly accept kudos whenever they are offered these days, though it says something about the general state of affairs when a legal mind such as mr. roberts’ is thought of as moderate.
we’ve come a long way, baby.
very nice coinage with ovary acting, bill!
Paul Burke - August 2, 2005 @ 11:42 am
Baloney you all have been duped by the corporate media and the republican by-line “he’s a nice guy” – wrong he’s a wolf in sheeps clothing and has some very awful alliances – get ready for the erosion of church and state and the christian theocracy – don’t forget to say god bless when you talk to people just to let them know you’re on the team and support state sponsored religion, school prayer – hey guys in god we trust and under god didn’t appear on the currency or in the pledge of allegiance until the 1950’s – not 1776 – when we wanted to send a message to the former soviet union – horray he’s a nice guy – make me wanna puke – here’s what your “nice guy” church going moderate is all about –
As a partisan lawyer for the Bush Sr. and Reagan administrations, Roberts threatened:
Civil rights by asking the Supreme Court to severely limit the ability of district courts to desegregate public schools 1, and working to ensure the Voting Rights Act could not be used to remedy many cases of actual discrimination against minority votes. 2
Women’s rights by fighting for a law barring doctors from even discussing reproductive options in many cases, 3 and arguing that Roe. vs. Wade should be “overruled.” 4
Free speech by arguing to the Supreme Court that political speech that some considered offensive did not deserve First Amendment protections. The Court rejected his claim. 5
Religious liberty by arguing to the Supreme Court that public schools could force religious speech on students. Again, the Court rejected the argument. 6
As a corporate lawyer, Roberts threatened:
Community and environmental rights by working to strike down new clean-air rules and filing a brief for the National Mining Association, arguing that federal courts could not stop mountaintop-removal mining in West Virginia, even as it devastated local communities. 7
Workers’ rights by helping Toyota to successfully evade the Americans with Disabilities Act and fire workers for disabilities they suffered over time because of the requirements of their jobs. 8
Public interest regulations by helping Fox News challenge FCC rules that prevented the creation of news media monopolies. 9
In his short two years as a judge, Roberts has threatened:
Individual rights by rejecting the civil rights claims brought on behalf of a 12-year-old girl who had been handcuffed, arrested and taken away by the police for eating a single french fry in the D.C. Metro. 10
Environmental protections when the dissent he wrote on an Endangered Species Act case, had it been in the majority, would have struck the Act down as unconstitutional in many cases, and would have threatened a wide swath of workplace, public safety and civil rights protections. 11
Human Rights by voting to strike down the Geneva Conventions as applied to prisoners that the Bush administration chose to exempt from international law. 12
Sources
1. Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Dowell
2. Alliance for Justice, Nominee Profile
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=794
3. Alliance for Justice, Nominee Profile
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=794
4. “Same Appeal; Different Styles,” Washington Postm July 17, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=795
5. United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990)
6. Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992)
7. “The Making of the Corporate Judiciary” Mother Jones, November/December 2003
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=796
8. Toyota Motor Mfg., Kentucky v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002)
9. Alliance for Justice
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=797
10. Hedgepeth v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 386 F.3d 1148 (D.C. Cir. 2004)
11. Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton, 334 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003 cert. denied)
12. Court: U.S. May Resume Detainee Tribunals, Associated Press, July 16th 2005
Michael Herdegen - August 2, 2005 @ 8:59 pm
Paul Burke Says: [G]et ready for the erosion of church and state and the christian theocracy…
Don’t worry about it, Mr. Burke.
There won’t be any theocracy in America, because America’s Christian churches don’t agree enough to form a government.
As soon as power became available to religioius organizations, the Catholics, Evangelicals, and mainstream Protestant churches would all start infighting.
Even now, as you may not have noticed, the Christian Right has LESS political influence than it did during the Eighties.
The GOP pays them the same lip service that the Dems pay blacks.
Paul Burke - August 3, 2005 @ 8:33 am
I don’t know once you stack the bench – well look at the 2000 election – look at the sheer power the court had when the right moment came along – would a more centrist supreme court have said – “count the votes” or “do over” without an artificial time frame? And how about the environment – the Earth is going to take a hit unless we are vocal about not ripping up the rockies looking for oil. Your point is well taken, and I agree. But what worries me in addittion to a theocracy is the collaterall corporate power play that is using the christian right to gain power. Change to the status quo is hard. To bring about a clean energy sollution to our dirty energy problems is going to take the so called “left” and moderates forcing it legislatively onto big business. The neo conservatives have been in power less than a decade and they are already horribly out of step with the progressives. Loosing the Court to the extremist right is the final consolidation of power for the neo-conservatives – that’s all three branches they control Tom Delay and Karl Rove are not even in the press anymore why – because the fourth branch (media) was bought long ago.
Danger Will Robbinson Danger!