Supreme Court Justice (nominated by Pres. George W. Bush 2005)
No paper trail as a judge on gay rights issues
Gay rights advocates like the Human Rights Campaign say that Roberts has no paper trail on the issue as a judge.
But they fear that his conservative Republican record, including his criticism of the right to privacy authorized by Roe, bodes badly for them.
Source: Slate.com
Jul 19, 2005
Ok for religious groups to meet at schools
Roberts has argued on behalf of his clients for the expansion of religion in public schools. In a coauthored brief to the Supreme Court in Lee v. Weisman, he argued that religious ceremonies should be allowed to be a part of graduation ceremonies.
The Supreme Court rejected that position. But Roberts successfully argued to the court that religious groups should not be banned from meeting on school grounds in the case of Mergens v. Westside Community School District.
Source: Slate.com
Jul 19, 2005
Opposed simplifying complaints against voting rights
For Reagan, Roberts opposed a congressional effort-in the wake of the 1980 Supreme Court decision Mobile v. Bolden-to make it easier for minorities to successfully argue that their votes had been diluted under the Voting Rights Act.
Source: Emily Bazelon and David Newman, Slate.com
Jul 1, 2005
Weaken the separation of church and state
For Bush Senior, Roberts co-authored a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that public high-school graduation programs could include religious ceremonies. The Supreme Court disagreed by a vote of 5-4. (Lee v. Weisman, 1992)
Source: Emily Bazelon and David Newman, Slate.com
Jul 1, 2005
Against Affirmative Action
John G. Roberts, nominated by President Bush to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, has a record of hostility to the rights of women and minorities. While working under Presidents Reagan and Bush,
Roberts supported a hard-line, anti-civil rights policy that opposed affirmative action, would have made it nearly impossible for minorities to prove a violation of the Voting Rights Act and would have "resegregated" America's public schools.
Source: Report of the Alliance for Justice
Feb 1, 2003
Should make secret settlements in some cases
Q: How do you feel about the validity of maintaining or throwing out secret settlements that are made which prevent other people who may be using these defective products from knowing that they are defective, like defective tires, for example, defective
medical devices, for example?
A: I certainly am aware of the cases as they've come up. And I hesitate to opine on it without having studied the law. I certainly would obviously follow the Supreme Court precedent and the precedent of the circuit if I
were to be confirmed. I suspect that you're correct that the applicable law would involve some balancing. There are some interests in sealing settlements in some cases, but I'd be very surprised if that required or permitted sealing in a case where that
actively concealed a harmful condition on an ongoing basis that was continuing to present a danger. But, again, I'm just surmising at this point, and as a judge, I would apply the law in the circuit or in the Supreme Court.
Source: Hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the US Senate
Jan 29, 2003
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