An Unguarded Moment
Jul 25th, 2005 at 11:10 am by Susie
From today’s L.A. Times:
The exchange occurred during one of Roberts’ informal discussions with senators last week. According to two people who attended the meeting, Roberts was asked by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considers immoral. Roberts is a devout Catholic and is married to an ardent pro-life activist. The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a sin, and various church leaders have stated that government officials supporting abortion should be denied religious rites such as communion. (Pope Benedict XVI is often cited as holding this strict view of the merging of a person’s faith and public duties).
Renowned for his unflappable style in oral argument, Roberts appeared nonplused and, according to sources in the meeting, answered after a long pause that he would probably have to recuse himself.
It was the first unscripted answer in the most carefully scripted nomination in history. It was also the wrong answer. In taking office, a justice takes an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States. A judge’s personal religious views should have no role in the interpretation of the laws. (To his credit, Roberts did not say that his faith would control in such a case).
Roberts may insist that he was merely discussing the subject theoretically in an informal setting, and that he doesn’t anticipate recusing himself on a regular basis. But it’s not a subject that can be ignored; if he were to recuse himself on such issues as abortion and the death penalty, it would raise the specter of an evenly split Supreme Court on some of the nation’s most important cases.
Huh. Interesting.
Well, at least he’s more honest than Clarence Thomas.
Since when did anyone consider thomas an honest man?
Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies…
i don’t understand why bush chose this guy. he seems within the bounds of acceptability. in thinking that bush would choose a hard right, maybe he wasn’t looking for attention to divert from rove. maybe he wasn’t looking to pay back the religious right for getting him elected. maybe he wasn’t looking to play politics with scotus. it’s an odd day to expect something devious from the bush adminstration and be confused when you don’t seemingly find it.
jr:
Who says he’s not hard right?
Not all of those guys go around wearing T-shirts advertising their true intentions.
He upheld the arrest and handcuffing of a high school girl who ate one french fry in the Washington metro. What does that tell us?
Honestly, if he did recuse himself, it still wouldn’t make a positive difference. A tie in the Supreme Court means that the Circuit Court of Appeals ruling stands. Since most death penalty cases, for example, come out of the 4th (Virginia and the Carolinas) 5th (Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) and 11th (Florida, Alabama, Georgia) circuits, and since those circuits are already packed to the gills with right-wingers, it’ll have the same effect as if he voted for the execution. Likewise, with the exception of the occasional bit of insanity here in Pennsylvania, most abortion cases seem to come out of the midwest or south– the places where legislatures will pass these measures. (Even way back when, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton came out of Texas and Georgia) Anyone care to guess which presidents appointed most of *those* judges? (If you say Reagan and W, you win).
iz: that could just mean he follows the law to the letter, just like arresting grannies for smoking pot for their eyes isn’t pretty but the law’s the law. i just don’t see any benefit for the bushies in this. this guy will get confirmed save for a surprise. now we’re back to rove, though i wish we were also focusing on the DSMemos. i would have thought they would have chosen a more….. brazen hard righter i guess. someone who was qualifed, but who was more offensive to democrats. the repugs could have argued dems didn’t like his views, confirmed him anyway, and gotten some donations and poll bumps in the process.
another thought though…. this guy is very pro business and not very pro environment. maybe that’s who the bushies were pleasing, not the cultural issues crowd.