Despite Questions and Concerns, Judiciary Committee Approves Roberts Nomination
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 9/22/2005
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted (13-5) Thursday to endorse John Roberts, the Bush administration's pick for chief justice of the United States.
The vote was in the face of opposition from other lawmakers, including Minority Leader Harry Reid, D. Nev., and numerous civil rights and women's rights groups.
"We applaud the five judiciary members who voted their conscience and took a principled position in opposition to the nomination of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States. However, we are profoundly disappointed that the committee, as a whole, ignored compelling evidence against his nomination," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR).
LCCR has opposed Roberts, citing his lack of commitment to fundamental rights and freedoms.
In testimony September 15 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Henderson said that in four days of hearings, Roberts had "failed to distance himself from the anti-civil rights positions he has advocated" and therefore LCCR was compelled to oppose his confirmation.
Henderson said that Roberts' vision for America did not match that of mainstream Americans.
Civil rights groups say that Roberts had failed to meet his burden of showing that his record from his days as a legal advisor in the Reagan and Bush I administrations doesn't represent his views today.
Instead, advocates say, Roberts ducked specific answers to questions that might give the American people an understanding of whether he would protect fundamental rights and freedoms.
Advocates don't find credible Roberts' explanation that he was a "staff lawyer," merely advancing the views of those for whom he worked. Rather, they say, the documents produced so far show that Roberts was setting forth his own views.
These documents portray Roberts as embracing a narrow, rigid view of civil rights protections; troubling views on immigrants' rights; hostility toward affirmative action; and a dismissive attitude toward gender discrimination and its remedies.
Critics say during his stint in the Reagan administration, Roberts worked to undermine key civil rights policies, including court-ordered desegregation of public schools, voting rights, and Title IX (which prohibits sex discrimination in education).
The White House has refused to produce documents from Roberts' time as political deputy for Solicitor General Kenneth Starr.
Roberts declined repeated invitations during his hearing to address the human dimension of legal practice, or the impact his opinions would have on real people.
Roberts' nomination is expected to move to the Senate floor for a vote next week.
"Now that Roberts' nomination has been reported out of committee, we strongly urge senators to vote their conscience and reject his nomination when it reaches the floor. The stakes are too high and the consequences too great to gamble," LCCR's Henderson said.
