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July 20, 2005
Low on Confirmation Ammo
I'm sure there's lots of digging going on right now, but so far, no one has come up with much against Judge Roberts. The most the Democrats have said is that he has "suitable legal credentials" (Reid) or he's "in the ballpark" (Leiberman), and that they want to know more about him. Look for intensive grilling during the confirmation hearings, but I suspect he'll be confirmed.
Liberal groups such as NOW and other pro-choice organizations, on the other hand, are raising a brief he wrote as assistant SG.
In particular, Mr. Neas and other pro-choice advocates are suspicious that Judge Roberts doesn't believe that the Constitution guarantees the right to an abortion, as was determined in the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.
"We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled," he argued in a brief. He also said that abortion has "no support in the text, structure or history of the Constitution."
First of all, a lawyer has an ethical obligation to argue his client's position, regardless of his personal opinions. Period. Therefore, it is foolish to assume his arguments represent his personal beliefs. They may, or may not.
Second, he's correct. From a strictly legal standpoint, Roe v. Wade is bad law badly written. There may be a constitutional basis for abortion, but you'll not find it in Roe. What you will find is a bare majority of justices who believed personally that women should be able to get abortions on demand. And they clumsily cobbled together the necessary penumbras and emanations to support their desired conclusions.
It's also about the most blatant example of legislating from the bench you'll find.
So if that's the worst they can argue against Roberts, they ain't got much.
Posted by Rita at July 20, 2005 04:47 AM