Roberts Has Solid Conservative Credentials

Roberts Has Solid Conservative Credentials

NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

WASHINGTON - John G. Roberts has solid conservative credentials and a lengthy background as a government lawyer and a private attorney whose clients ranged from big companies to welfare recipients.

But his record as a judge is short and relatively nondescript. Roberts, 50, has been on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit only since June 2003, where he has shown a penchant for backing the Bush administration.

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If confirmed to the Supreme Court, Roberts would immediately be put to the test with four death penalty cases, a challenge to an abortion law, an assisted suicide case, and an appeal that touches on gay rights. All will be argued in the term that begins Oct. 3.

Abortion rights groups contend that during his days as a lawyer in the administration of President George H.W. Bush he tried to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion. Roberts helped write a brief that stated, "We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled."

Pressed during his 2003 confirmation hearing for the appeals court for his own views on the matter, 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."

A member of the conservative Federalist Society that is influential on Bush's judicial picks, Roberts is a widely respected lawyer. President Bush called him "one of best legal minds of his generation."

Roberts is a familiar face at the Supreme Court, where he clerked for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and successfully argued many cases, both for the government and as a private lawyer. He was associate counsel to President Reagan from 1982-86 and served as principal deputy solicitor general in the administration of the first President Bush from 1989-93 before returning to private practice.

Many justices know him, and that would aid his transition to the court, where he argued 39 cases.

'Down-to-earth'

"He has a friendly, down-to-earth demeanor that puts others at ease and fosters consensus," said Gregory Garre, a Washington lawyer and former colleague.

As a private lawyer, the Buffalo, N.Y., native represented Toyota at the Supreme Court, winning limits on disabled workers' claims. At the appeals court on which he now serves, he won hearings for welfare recipients whose benefits had been terminated.

Roberts generally voted with the government in the cases he has handled on the bench.

He was part of the unanimous three-judge panel that last week put President Bush's military tribunals in the war on terror back on track, clearing the way for the Pentagon to resume trials for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He also joined in a decision last year to throw out a $959 million judgment for U.S. prisoners of war who say they were tortured by the Iraqi military during the 1991 Gulf War, ruling that Congress never authorized such lawsuits against foreign governments.

Roberts issued a dissent in a case involving the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act. The liberal group People for the American Way said Roberts' dissent indicated he may be ready to join the ranks of right-wing conservative judges who seek to limit severely congressional authority to protect the environment.

Roberts also issued a dissent in a decision against the Bush administration's efforts to keep secret records of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. Roberts was in the minority when the court voted 5-3 to deny the Bush administration's request for a rehearing.

Supreme Court historian David Garrow of Emory University said that while Roberts is a conservative, he is not in the mold of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

"I do not think it moves the court at all," Garrow said.

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