Justice John Roberts

Late this afternoon, my sincerest wish was that I would owe Judge Clement an apology in twenty years. Now, it appears that I may owe President Bush the apology instead. I hope it won't take twenty years to find out.

I intend to fight for this nominee and take my chances with the outcome. This is a fight we can win. I am glad at least that we have something to fight for and a chance to prove that we can overcome hostile Democrats and weak moderates in the Senate. We have our own "establishment" in place to spread the word about this nominee and about the general principal of strict constructionism. We did not have that "establishment" in 1987 when Bork was smeared by the left. I will write more about that comparison in coming days.

Much is being made of Roberts' quotation in a 1991 brief where he wrote on behalf of the first Bush administration:

. . . we continue to believe that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled. . .

But that statement doesn't prove anything. Roberts was working for the administration and he advocated the administration's position.

In 1966, future Justice Thurgood Marshall (as solicitor general) argued the government's position against Miranda. He lost and Miranda v. Arizona became the most well-known of the civil rights cases to come out of the Warren Court. I don't believe Marshall took any steps to limit that decision once he joined the Court.

We can take nothing for granted, but this one is worth fighting for.

More info here and here.