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August 14, 2005
Conservatives' Difficulties With Roberts
Okay, so the man George Bush has nominated to replace Sandra Day O'Connor in the Court has previously been instrumental, on a pro bono basis, in the winning of a gay rights case at the Supreme Court(Romer vs Evans), and we now hear that he also did some work for Playboy, in their winning a case in 1999 vs the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
These are both liberal causes.
So Judge Roberts' nomination is now getting flak from the right.
The way I see it, we have two factions on this side of the aisle(the starboard side, of course). One consists of those who believe that, since we hold a no-nonsense majority in the Senate, we should put forth a hard core right winger ala Bob Dole and battle the left tooth and nail to get him/her approved. The other consists of those who are satisfied that Roberts will do the right thing(pun intended), and would prefer to see him confirmed without a dog and pony show from the left that might drag on for months, or longer.
John, as he did with many clients at the firm, was available for advice from time to time,” Corn-Revere told HUMAN EVENTS. “In this case, he helped with moot courts in preparing me for oral argument in the case at the Supreme Court.”
Corn-Revere, who left Hogan & Hartson in 2003 and is now a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, said he worked with Roberts on at least two Federal Communications Commission cases during their time at Hogan & Hartson.
“I never had a sense that John’s work for any clients necessarily represented his own personal views,” Corn-Revere said. “He was being a professional and he was helping out colleagues.” He added, “Just like others in the firm, he was generally available for advice if something came up in his field.”
The liberals are already performing their "he's a Bush nominee and therefore he's evil" number without any real evidence that there's anything wrong with the nominee from the left's perspective, but that's the liberals; Over the last few years, they've gotten over such hang-ups as self respect and personal pride and don't mind looking stupid in front of the rest of the country. I seriously doubt that the Bush Administration will offer them a second nominee with gay rights and porn cases in his/her resume, so what's their problem? Do they simply want to fight?
The conservatives who are criticising the nomination based on the two cases mentioned above(in neither case did he actually address the Court, he mainly helped behind the scenes as a sort of coach for those who did) should take a couple of things into account:
Judge Roberts is, first and foremost, an attorney. A dedicated lawyer(excluding those who work for the ACLU or make themselves rich by victimizing hospitals and other institutions gratuitously-- hmmm, why does John Edwards suddenly come to mind?) believes that every case deserves the best legal representation it can get, on both sides.
As far as his politics go, those demanding to examine documents from his Justice Department years provide as glowing an endorsement from a conservative point of view as we can hope for.
Speaking for myself, I'm behind the Roberts nomination all the way, and I believe it to be in the best interests of the entire country, with the exception of a small but loud minority of limited-agenda liberals, an unavoidable, gnat-like irritant we must live with.
Posted by Seth at August 14, 2005 10:48 AM
