| Roberts' Conservative Ideology
Decried by Minority Activists, Democrats
Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2005
By: Michael H. Cottman
A day after President George W. Bush nominated John G. Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court, black activists Wednesday questioned Roberts' commitment to civil rights and expressed concern that the nation's highest court could shift dramatically to the right.
"The civil rights community doesn't believe he's good for black folks," Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday.
"He's been consistent in providing the conservative movement with the legal resources to oppose civil rights," Walters said. "His principles are damaging."
Civil rights activists say the Supreme Court has a history of deciding by narrow margins many important cases that deeply affect all minorities. Its decisions can determine U.S. policy on workers' rights, affirmative action, voting rights and education. Given the close split on the high court between moderates and conservatives, some say, the next Supreme Court Justice -- perhaps Roberts -- will alter the ideological direction of the country for years to come.
If Roberts, a D.C. federal appellate judge, is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, "it leaves the court in a dependable right-wing position," Walters said.
Roberts, 50, has been on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since June 2003 after being picked for that seat by Bush. In the early 1980s, Roberts was also a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. The millionaire judge graduated Harvard Law School and has worked for the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson, one of the nation's most prestigious firms.
Last October, while serving on the D.C. court, Roberts voted with two colleagues to uphold the arrest and detention of a 12-year-old girl for eating french fries at a D.C. Metro station, though his opinion noted, "No one is very happy about the events that led to this litigation."
Roberts upheld the constitutionality of Ansche Hedgepeth's arrest. The black youngster from D.C. was handcuffed and arrested by D.C. Metro Transit Police and the incident drew national attention. Roberts wrote that Hedgepeth was searched, booked, fingerprinted and detained in a juvenile center, "all for eating a single french fry in a Metrorail station."
Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the caucus will closely evaluate Roberts' record on issues of particular importance to black Americans.
"The Supreme Court has been the place of last resort for African-Americans throughout our history in this country," Watt said in a statement.
Advocacy groups on the right say that Roberts, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., is a bright judge with strong conservative credentials he burnished in the administrations of former Presidents Bush and Reagan. While he has been a federal judge for a little more than two years, legal experts say that whatever experience he lacks on the bench is offset by his many years arguing cases before the Supreme Court.
But Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau, said Roberts' judicial record and conservative ideology "raises a red flag" for the NAACP.
While the NAACP, is not formally opposing Roberts, Shelton said, the civil rights organization is examining his record and has already identified "troubling" rulings and decisions.
"We're not in a position to oppose him," Shelton told BlackAmericaWeb.com , "but we are guarded."
Shelton said the NAACP is specifically concerned about Roberts' positions on state's rights, individual rights, freedom of speech and religious freedoms. He said Roberts once supported state-sponsored prayer in schools, which Shelton called "extremely problematic" because it implies that school officials might be advocating for a particular religious belief.
"There are stringent questions to be asked, and answers must be provided," Shelton said Wednesday. "Clearly, he is not in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor."
Shelton said the NAACP was also hoping that Bush would appoint a woman or minority to replace O'Connor, who announced her retirement last month.
"We are also concerned about [Bush's] move away from diversity on our nation's highest court," Shelton said. "The position held by a woman is being filled by a white male."
In 1991, Roberts, then deputy solicitor general in former President George H.W. Bush administration, told the Supreme Court that its historic decision supporting a woman's right to an abortion was "wrongly decided and should be overruled." In 2003, when Roberts was up for a judgeship, he played down his earlier statement, explaining that he made the administration's case against Roe v. Wade only because that was his responsibility as its lawyer.
Liberal groups, however, say Roberts has taken positions in cases involving free speech and religious liberty that endanger those rights. Abortion rights groups allege that Roberts, while deputy solicitor general, was hostile to women's reproductive freedom and cite a brief he co-wrote in 1990 that suggested the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 high court decision that legalized abortion
On Wednesday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) spoke out against Roberts' nomination during a Washington, D.C. rally organized by the National Organization of Women to oppose Roberts.
"I'm not happy," Waters told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday. "I don't like the fact that I'm hearing how the President has cleverly and masterfully nominated a person who has all the right credentials and who will be hard to oppose. Well, I beg to differ. We must oppose him and oppose him strenuously."
Black congressional leaders say Roberts' overall conservative ideology could threaten decades of civil rights protections for many black Americans and those who are disenfranchised.
"He is a right-wing conservative," Waters said, "and diametrically opposed to everything I stand for."
But Walters maintains that, despite passionate opposition by Democratics, Roberts will likely be confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the U.S. Supreme Court because he has positioned himself as an "acceptable conservative."
"He's not a bomb-thrower in your face," Walters said, "and for that reason, he's acceptable. He's a brilliant legal strategist, he's likable and smart. And he'll get a pass."
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