William Kristol's Weekly Standard column, It Takes an Establishment, includes one liberal's take on Supreme Court appointee John G. Roberts.
One of the most interesting comments came from a lawyer in his mid-30s, Brad Joondeph, on the liberal website thinkprogress.org. Joondeph describes his experience as a summer associate at Hogan & Hartson 12 years ago, when John Roberts was his official "mentor." He recalls of Roberts that "he could not have been nicer, more gracious, more encouraging. He offered mentoring advice to a snot-nosed, 24-year-old law student as if it were the most important part of his job." Then Joondeph tells this anecdote:
"After returning to Stanford that fall, I was lucky enough to have my student note published in the Stanford Law Review. It was a rather presumptuous and self-righteous critique of the Supreme Court's decision in Freeman v. Pitts, a school desegregation case from DeKalb County, Georgia. I argued that the Court was pulling the rug out from under Brown v. Board of Education by prematurely ending court-ordered desegregation remedies. As deputy solicitor general in the first Bush administration, Roberts had actually argued the Freeman case as amicus in support of the school district. I therefore (again, fairly presumptuously) sent him my note, in which I contended that, well, Roberts had been all wrong.
"A few weeks later, I received a two-page letter in response. Roberts wrote that the note was well researched and well written. (I was thrilled at the time, but I would now strongly disagree.) But he also offered a thoughtful critique of my analysis that was several paragraphs in length. This was more feedback than I had received from my professors in law school.
"All of that said, my best guess is that he would be a very conservative justice. And because he is so gifted and so decent a human being, he might become incredibly influential on the Court, moving it in ways that justices like Scalia and Thomas have been incapable. In short, he could ultimately be a progressive's worst case scenario."
Joondeph concludes, "So all of this leaves me quite conflicted."
The Washington Post on the other hand is not conflicted.
An Image A Little Too Carefully Coordinated
By Robin Givhan
Friday, July 22, 2005; Page C02
It has been a long time since so much syrupy nostalgia has been in evidence at the White House. But Tuesday night, when President Bush announced his choice for the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, it was hard not to marvel at the 1950s-style tableau vivant that was John Roberts and his family.
The Post's word picture is meant to imply that we are about to return to a racist past, back to the days before the Civil Rights Act. Beware of the evil, masked beneath the washed and pressed facade.
It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry.
Via Power Line and Captain's Quarters.
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