Supreme Court Nominee: Judge John G Roberts

[dUSt]

[i]Nominee would be fourth Catholic justice on current court

[b]By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service[/b]

[b]WASHINGTON (CNS) --[/b] Judge John G. Roberts would become the fourth Catholic member of the current Supreme Court if he is confirmed by the Senate for the opening created by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement.

Roberts, 50, was nominated July 19 by President George W. Bush, who called him "a man of extraordinary accomplishment and ability" who has "a good heart."

Roberts has been a judge of the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia for two years, after working in private practice in Washington and as a U.S. deputy solicitor general from 1989 to 1993. He also served as a clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

During the Reagan administration, he was an aide to White House counsel Fred Fielding and to Attorney General William French Smith. While in private practice, he was among the legal advisers for Bush during the 2000 battle over Florida's disputed presidential election results.

In private practice for Hogan and Hartson, and at the Justice Department, he regularly wrote briefs on cases before the Supreme Court and has argued cases there dozens of times.

One brief he co-wrote while deputy solicitor general, in the Rust vs. Sullivan case on abortion counseling, is being cited as a clue to his legal philosophy about Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

"We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled," said the government's brief in the case. The court ruled 5-4 in that 1991 decision that the federal government's ban on abortion counseling in its Title X family planning program does not violate free-speech rights or a woman's right to an abortion.

A year later, arguing for the government in another abortion-related case, Roberts said blockades of abortion clinics were no more targeted at specific classes of people than were anti-draft protests.

Arguing before the Supreme Court in Bray vs. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, Roberts said military draft protests and clinic blockades only incidentally had anything to do with gender.

Women seeking abortions are targeted "not for who they are but for what they are doing," Roberts said. The court in 1993 ruled 6-3 that abortion clinic blockades do not violate the 1871 Civil Rights Act and therefore do not warrant intervention by the federal government.

During confirmation hearings for his appointment to the appeals court, when asked about Roe vs. Wade, Roberts made a point of saying the stand on Roe in the Rust vs. Sullivan brief "was my position as an advocate for a client."

"Roe vs. Wade is the settled law of the land," he said. "It's a little more than settled. It was reaffirmed in the face of a challenge that it should be overruled in the Casey decision. Accordingly, it's the settled law of the land. There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent, as well as Casey."

Planned Parenthood vs. Casey was a 1992 case that upheld states' rights to impose restrictions on abortion. An unsuccessful minority of the justices also attempted to use that case to overturn Roe.

Roberts is a native of Buffalo, N.Y., who moved with his family to Long Beach, Ind., when he was in elementary school. There he attended Catholic elementary and high schools. He was captain of the football team and class president at La Lumiere, a Catholic college prep school, before going on to earn undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard.

His wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, is also an attorney who graduated from Holy Cross College and Georgetown University's law school. She also has degrees from Brown University in Rhode Island and Melbourne University in Australia.

She has been active in Feminists for Life, and is a member of the board of governors of the John Carroll Society, a Catholic lay organization that sponsors the annual Washington archdiocesan Red Mass before the opening of the Supreme Court term.

The Robertses, who have two children, are members of Little Flower Parish in Bethesda, Md., near their home in Chevy Chase, Md.

If confirmed, Roberts would be the 11th Catholic ever to serve on the court and the fourth among current members, joining Justices Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia.

Senate confirmation hearings are unlikely to begin before early September. The Supreme Court term begins Oct. 3.[/i]

[avemaria40]

yay Bush! i always knew i liked him:)

[the_rev]

I was just gonna post that he was Catholic since I just found out.

[dUSt]

[i]A prominent liberal advocacy group -- NARAL Pro-Choice America -- opposed Roberts' second nomination to the appeals court, saying he has worked to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that struck down state laws outlawing abortion.

Arguing a case for the first Bush administration in 1990 when he was deputy solicitor general, Roberts said Roe v. Wade "was wrongly decided and should be overruled."[/i]

:applause:

[argent_paladin]

Not only is he Catholic, but his wife is involved with Feminists for Life. I don't think you could find better pro-life credentials. I also checked out their home parish, here's a part of a homily they have online:
[quote]Second, in one of the papers this week, the op-ed page headline reads "In Search for the Syntax on Gay Marriage." I would argue that this kind of "syntax" is not possible to find. When the specific word "marriage" is used, by definition--from the order of nature, the light of human reason and confirmation by Divine Revelation in scripture--the word "marriage" is only properly understood as an institution created by God which applies to a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between a man and a woman. Any other "syntax" is not marriage.

There are, after all, two ends, or purposes, in marriage--the good of the spouses and the transmission of life, I.e. the openness to children. The catechism clearly teaches that "these two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple's spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and future of the family." CCC 2363 Both are essential for a proper understanding of marriage itself. So important is the openness to children as an integral part of marriage that the church teaches consistently that "'it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life.'" CCC 2366 This can only happen, if the gift of a child is to be given by God, between a man and a woman in marriage. Note well: "Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality." CCC 2370 [/quote]
If that is indicative of the quality of teaching he is getting every week, I don't think we have anything to worry about. I don't think there could be a better Catholic candidate.

[White Knight]

Lets pray he gets Confirmed.

[thessalonian]

[quote name='argent_paladin' date='Jul 20 2005, 02:35 PM']Not only is he Catholic, but his wife is involved with Feminists for Life. I don't think you could find better pro-life credentials. I also checked out their home parish, here's a part of a homily they have online:

If that is indicative of the quality of teaching he is getting every week, I don't think we have anything to worry about. I don't think there could be a better Catholic candidate.
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These things are good news but it means he's going to have rough sledding. Pro-life Catholic males are the one thing that you can discriminate against in this country openly.

[Fidei Defensor]

[quote name='thessalonian' date='Jul 20 2005, 02:53 PM']These things are good news but it means he's going to have rough sledding.  Pro-life Catholic males are the one thing that you can discriminate against in this country openly.
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All those hot heads dont scare us.. We have God on our side!

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

[quote name='White Knight' date='Jul 20 2005, 02:52 PM']Lets pray he gets Confirmed.
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If he's Catholic then he probably has already been confirmed.

[ForHimAlone]

Yay BUSH!! I hope this works out!

[WillT]

Finally! A Catholic in the national political spotlight who's, you know, actually Catholic!

[reelguy227]

Sweet !!! Bush came through and gave us a Pro Life nominee !!!

[Ash Wednesday]

:haha:

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='1337 k4th0l1x0r' date='Jul 20 2005, 03:05 PM']If he's Catholic then he probably has already been confirmed.
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I think White meant confirmed in the Supreme Court. Or maybe you were just playing along.

This all makes me laugh to no end. Especially thinking of pro-choicers birthing cows over this. :haha:

[amy]

He used to work with my dad back in their highschool/college days!

[reelguy227]

Really ,thats cool .

[jezic]

i hope he gets confirmed but we have our lovely democrates who defend murder openly to get past..... gr....

[DemonSlayer]

Good work.

[Dreamweaver]

Now, all we gotta do is get the democrats to stop filibustering. It may be legal, but it seems cowardly to resort to filibuster if you disagree with something.

Back to topic, I'm glad to see an actual REAL Catholic in politics! Yes for pro-life SC justice nominees.

[argent_paladin]

When Roberts gets confirmed, there will be four Catholics, three protestants and two Jews on the Supreme Court. One more and we will have a majority! And of the four Catholics, only one is not really Catholic (Kennedy). Thomas and Scalia are pretty good Catholics.