Virginians rate Roberts' record
Is President Bush's Supreme Court pick a uniter or a divider?
Date published: 7/21/2005
By MICHAEL ZITZ
At a formal dinner two decades ago in the nation's capital, an inebriated John Riggins famously told new Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, "Loosen up, Sandy, baby."
The colorful Washington Redskins star then passed out and slid under the table.
The problem for many Republicans was that O'Connor seemed to heed Riggins' advice, turning moderate after being named to the court by President Ronald Reagan, who expected her to vote as a staunch conservative.
O'Connor became a middle-of-the-road swing vote on hot-button issues including abortion.
It seems unlikely that D.C. federal appellate judge John G. Roberts Jr.--President George W. Bush's nominee to replace O'Connor--will loosen up in such a manner.
Roberts is considered a rock-ribbed Republican conservative, and as soon as Bush nominated him Tuesday night, the left and right wings of the U.S. Senate, which must confirm any nominee, began digging in to do battle.
It's expected that a Roberts confirmation would shift the court sharply to the right.
There's much at stake. In the coming year, the court is expected to rule on issues such as abortion, the right to die, due-process rights for "enemy combatants" and federal aid to universities that ban military recruiters.
Lew Fickett, a retired Mary Washington College professor who taught constitutional law and has followed the high court closely for 50 years, called Bush's choice of Roberts a clever "stealth nomination."
"On the surface, no one can seemingly object to Judge Roberts' superb qualifications," Fickett said. In his judicial record "there is only the slightest suggestion that he might differ from retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the crucial issue of Roe v. Wade." Still, Fickett, a Democrat, expects strong opposition from liberal groups.
Conservatives have applauded the nomination. In Virginia Beach, television evangelist Pat Robertson said in a statement that Roberts was at the top of his own list of candidates for the court vacancy.
But Robertson insisted that doesn't mean Roberts is a sure vote against abortion and gay marriage.
"We do not really know what Roberts will do in relation to abortion," Robertson said. "The appointment is not a litmus test on abortion, homosexual rights or anything else."
Date published: 7/21/2005
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