Independent Judiciary: The Nominees

Independent Judiciary: The Nominees:

"John Roberts

Nominated to: Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit

Status of nomination: Confirmed 5/8/2003
May 8, 2003: The Committee voted out Roberts 16-3.

Alliance for Justice Resources:

* Alliance for Justice to Senators Hatch and Leahy Re: Deborah Cook and John Roberts
* Alliance For Justice Full Report on John Roberts

* Born 1955, Buffalo, NY
* B.A., 1976, summa cum laude & J.D., 1979, magna cum laude, Harvard University
* 1979-80, Clerk for Judge Friendly, Second Circuit
* 1980-81, Clerk, Associate Justice Rehnquist, Supreme Court
* U.S. Department of Justice
o 1981-81, Special Assistant to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith
o 1989-93, Principal Deputy Solicitor General
* 1982-86, White House Counsel's Office, Associate Counsel to the President
* Hogan & Hartson, LLP, Washington, DC
o 1986-89, Associate
o 1993-present, Partner

General Background. Mr. Roberts, a partner at the D.C. law firm Hogan & Hartson, has long-standing and deep connections to the Republican Party. He is a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association and worked as a political appointee in both the Reagan and Bush I administrations. President George H.W. Bush nominated Mr. Roberts to the D.C. Circuit, but he was considered by some on the Senate Judiciary Committee to be too extreme in his views, and his nomination lapsed. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to the same seat in May 2001.

Reproductive Rights. s a Deputy Solicitor General, Mr. Roberts co-wrote a Supreme Court brief in Rust v. Sullivan,1 for the first Bush administration, which argued that the government could prohibit doctors in federally-funded family planning programs from discussing abortions with their patients. The brief not only argued that the regulations were constitutional, notwithstanding the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, but it also made the broader argument that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided - an argument unnecessary to defend the regulation. The Supreme Court sided with the government on the narrower grounds that the regulation was constitutional.

Environmental Issues. As a student, Mr. Roberts wrote two law review articles arguing for an expansive reading of the Contracts and Takings clauses of the Constitution, taking positions that would restrict Congress' ability to protect the environment. As a member of the Solicitor General's office, Mr. Roberts was the lead counsel for the United States in the Supreme Court case Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, in which the government argued that private citizens could not sue the federal government for violations of environmental regulations."