Bush Nominates John G. Roberts To Supreme Court PAUL JOHNSON / 365Gay.com 19jul2005

Bush Nominates John G. Roberts To Supreme Court

PAUL JOHNSON / 365Gay.com 19jul2005

Washington—President Bush Tuesday night nominated John G. Roberts to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Roberts Jr.: D.C. Circuit Judge Gets on Supreme Court Short List TONY MAURO / Legal Times 22feb2005

Some of John Roberts' stands on issues that come before the Supreme Court:

ABORTION:
As a lawyer in the administration of President Bush's father, he helped write a Supreme Court brief that said, "We continue to believe that Roe (v. Wade) was wrongly decided and should be overruled."

RELIGION:
Roberts unsuccessfully urged the Supreme Court to rule that public schools could sponsor prayer at graduation ceremonies. "We do not believe ... that graduation ceremonies pose a risk of coercion," said the brief Roberts helped to write on behalf of the first Bush administration.

ENVIRONMENT:
As a judge, he was sympathetic to arguments that wildlife regulations were unconstitutional as applied to a California construction project. The government feared the project would hurt arroyo toads.

CRIMINAL MATTERS:
His votes on the bench have been mixed. He ruled in favor of a man who challenged his sentence for fraud, then said police did not violate the constitutional rights of a 12-year-old girl who was arrested, handcuffed and detained for eating a single french fry inside a train station in Washington.

POLICE SEARCHES:
Joined an appeals court ruling in 2004 that upheld police trunk searches, even if officers do not say they are looking for evidence of a crime.

MILITARY TRIBUNALS:
Roberts was part of a unanimous decision last week that allowed the Pentagon to proceed with plans to use military tribunals to try terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay.

source: 20jul2005

The vacancy stems from the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. (story)

Roberts currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was appointed to that position in 2003 by President Bush.

Roberts attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School and was a clerk for Justice William H. Rehnquist on the Supreme Court.

A conservative and longtime Republican, Roberts served as Deputy Solicitor General. In 1990, he argued in favor of a government regulation that banned abortion-related counseling by federally-funded family planning programs. His brief to the court contained a note that the Bush administration's belief that Roe v. Wade should be overruled.

In nominating Roberts, Bush said he would rule on cases in accordance with the constitution and not make new law, a reference to what Bush in the past has called activist judges in the wake of the landmark Massachusetts supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

"With the Roberts nomination, the right to privacy and the future of a fair-minded Court are in grave danger," Joe Solmonese, President, Human Rights Campaign told 365Gay.com.

"Judge Roberts has disputed the right to privacy laid out in Roe v. Wade, and urged that the case be overruled. Reversing Roe could undermine fundamental rights to privacy and liberty that are the legal underpinning for the freedom of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.

"Judge Roberts has advocated for prayer in public schools and for weakening the wall between church and state," Solmonese noted. "He should make clear whether or not he would distort religion for misuse as a proxy for discrimination. Americans deserve a justice who will uphold the separation of church and state.

"The unique powers of the Supreme Court, including the power to revisit previous Supreme Court decisions, mean that Judge Roberts’ record should be subject to rigorous inspection," said Solmonese.

Lambda Legal, which is fighting lawsuits in several states on behalf of same-sex couples seeking to marry also expressed concerns.

"We don't have a position yet on John Roberts yet, but there are troubling things in his record that we need to take a careful look at," Michael Adams, director of education for Lambda Legal told 365Gay.com

Roberts was one of five prospective nominees whom Bush met with between Thursday and Saturday, according to a senior administration official who provided details of the selection.

Bush did not ask Roberts any questions about abortion, gay marriage or other specific issues that might come before the Supreme Court, the official told The Associated Press.

Although there is little on the record to indicate how he would vote on LGBT issues, Roberts received bipartisan support as a nominee to the federal bench.

Roberts' nomination is the president's first chance to place a justice on the high court and he may not have as easy a time in confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court.

"All questions are legitimate," New York Democrat and Judiciary Committee member Charles E. Schumer said earlier this month. "What is your view on Roe vs. Wade? What is your view on gay marriage?"

Other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee agree that all issues, including same-sex marriage, should be put to a nominee for the high court. They include Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Joseph Biden of Delaware.

And, Democrats are not discounting using a filibuster to sink a nominee they think too extreme. Democrats have been bracing for a showdown over the Supreme Court for more than a year.

In May they agreed to allow three Bush judicial nominees to appeals courts to go to a vote in return for Republicans abandoning legislation that would have prevented the use of a filibuster. (story)

The president said he wants the nomination confirmed before the Supreme Court begins its fall session in October.

Among the issues the court will consider when the justices return to work October 3 is a legal challenge to the Solomon Law which allows the government to withhold federal funds from universities that bar military recruiters. Some universities have refused to allow recruiters on campuses because of 'don't ask, don't tell, the military's ban on openly gay people serving in the armed forces.

The nomination of came as a surprise to many - including those on the far right of the Republican Party.

Last week a conservative Christian group presented petitions to the White House calling for the appointment of former Alabama chief justice Roy Moore to the U.S. Supreme Court. (story)

Moore has a long history of anti-gay rulings.

In 2003 Moore was removed as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court after the state's nine-member Court of Judicial Inquiry found he had violated judicial ethical standards for defiance of a federal judge's order to move his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse.

source: http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/07/071905BushCourt.htm 12jul2005

Joined US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in
2003 as an appointee of President George W Bush.

Part of a three-judge panel that handed the U.S. government a critical victory last Friday, ruling that the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay could proceed.

Worked in the Reagan Justice Department and as a deputy solicitor general during the first Bush administration.

In 1990, Roberts stated in a legal brief that the Supreme Court's legalization of abortion should be overturned.

The first President Bush nominated Roberts for a seat on the federal appeals court, but Democrats did not give him a vote.

Born in Buffalo in 1955, Roberts graduated from Harvard in 1976; from the Harvard Law School in 1979; and clerked for then Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist from 1981 to 1982. that he had looked and looked for my client, but couldn't find her."

As it turned out, neither could the Supreme Court. It ruled 5-4 that Prettyman's clients had no right to sue. Roberts' argument won the day.

source: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1108389946956 20jul2005

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