Roberts deserves a chance

John Roberts will be the next Supreme Court Chief Justice of the United States. In the Senate,… John Roberts will be the next Supreme Court Chief Justice of the United States. In the Senate, 11 Democrats have indicated they will give their nod of approval and every Republican is expected to give their support as well. Roberts is just 50 years old, meaning that he will guide our court for 20 to 30 years. The decisions this court will make will change the scope of the world.

Terrorism, online piracy, identity theft and many more issues will rise to importance during Roberts’s term. The truth is, he seems like a good guy equipped to deal with our nation’s most important cases. After his hearings, which contained few answers, it is quite hard to tell. So I’m going to go ahead and give you my best guess.

During his confirmation hearings, Roberts avoided answering significant questions that were presented to him. No secret here, his goal was to get onto the court. His strategy is a familiar one. The formula involves avoiding every question, speaking vaguely and talking about an ideology in place of one’s own political opinions and history.

Wow. Imagine applying for a job and refusing to answer questions you don’t like. I’m sure a lot of people wish they could do that.

Democrats in the Senate don’t know how to deal with Roberts’s nomination. Clearly, they are unhappy with his unclear answers. At the same time, they do not want to lose credibility by opposing a qualified candidate and being accused of simply stonewalling Bush’s nominees.

Roberts has the ingredients of a Supreme Court Justice. As an appellate lawyer, he was widely recognized as one of the nation’s best. He has also argued a total of 39 cases in front of the Supreme Court, enabling him to gain a rapport with the Justices.

It seems highly unlikely Roberts is of the same vein of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, whom Democrats sincerely regret confirming to the court. Roberts has danced around the issue of abortion. He has said that he follows political precedent, and that Roe v. Wade has set the standard, but has not come out and declared that he will not overturn abortion. My instinct tells me Roberts is not an ideologue, but a man of the law.

The biggest concern with this man is his arguments against Title IX, which prohibits discrimination of women in any United States educational institution. Women’s rights groups have attacked him, but he claims he was representing the Reagan administration. To be fair, he was not a judge, but a lawyer in these cases. Obviously he was arguing for those paying his salary, whether it was Reagan’s administration or the NCAA.

Roberts’s most impressive idea is that the Constitution matters, reasonable opinion matters and his personal ideologies do not matter. Any person in political office should realize this, especially a judge. Roberts must continue to realize he serves the Constitution, not his own specific interests. His words have been promising, but he has only been in action as a judge for two years. We cannot possibly know this man or his future. We can only hope that he will serve honorably on the Supreme Court.

George Bush needed to appoint a Justice that would not divide this country. For example, appointing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would have surely created a stir. It is surprising and welcome that he did not appoint someone way too extreme to reflect the opinions of the American people.

General consensus says that Roberts’s judicial opinions to this point have been case-specific. They were taken with care and in narrow scope. He does not try to recreate the law as he sees fit. He is a Conservative in the same make-up as Chief Justice Rehnquist, not an extreme activist.

There’s still one appointment left to be filled, which is scary to a nation that needs a healthy balance on the Supreme Court. The future of future of judicial decisions is unsure, but John Roberts thankfully will not severely tip the scales to the right.

In October, the Supreme Court will be in session. Here’s hoping that John Roberts is true to his word, and becomes the reasonable Justice he has claimed he will be.

If you think Roberts is our nation’s demise or savior, let Scott know why he’s wrong about our nation’s next Chief Justice at sdn2@pitt.edu.