Wednesday, July 27, 2005
If Bush's Supreme Court Nominee Is So Exemplary, Why the Cover-Up?
- from an article by Melanie Hunter - CNSNews.com Senior Editor
The White House refused to turn over documents related to cases that nominee John Roberts argued on behalf of the Bush administration in its first term. White House press secretary Scott McClellan cited client-attorney privilege. However, Ted Kennedy dismissed McClellan's comments saying, "There is no privilege, there is no rule, and there is no logic that would bar us from getting these documents." Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) wondered if this refusal was "...intended to unilaterally pre-empt a discussion about documents the Senate may need and is entitled to".
However, the White House did agree to release around 75,000 pages of documents concerning Roberts' work in the Reagan administration. But, even they betray Roberts' extreme right wing tendencies that Bush wants hidden from the Senate and the American people.
These records from the National archives depict Roberts, then a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith, as a young man in his mid-twenties engaged in the conservative restructuring of government that the newly elected Ronald Reagan had promised.
Much of Roberts' time at the Justice Department was taken up by the debate over GOP-sponsored bills in Congress that would have stripped the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over abortion, busing and school prayer cases. He wrote repeatedly in opposition to the view, advanced by then-Assistant Attorney General Theodore B. Olson, that the bills were unconstitutional.
Roberts' reported stances on specific cases were telling. He argued for a narrow interpretation of Title IX, the law barring sex discrimination in college sports. He recommend not intervening on behalf of female prison inmates in a sex discrimination case involving job training. He argued for restrictions on the rights of prisoners to litigate their grievances. He called for limits on a lower court's order requiring a sign-language interpreter for a hearing-impaired public school student. And, he supported a wider latitude for prosecutors and police to question suspects without their attorneys present.
Roberts' records from the Reagan years expose him as being routinely opposed to citizen rights and supportive of overbearing government and corporate power. Furthermore, they do suggest that his documents from Bush W's first term denied to the Senate must be even more damming.
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- from an article by Melanie Hunter - CNSNews.com Senior Editor
The White House refused to turn over documents related to cases that nominee John Roberts argued on behalf of the Bush administration in its first term. White House press secretary Scott McClellan cited client-attorney privilege. However, Ted Kennedy dismissed McClellan's comments saying, "There is no privilege, there is no rule, and there is no logic that would bar us from getting these documents." Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) wondered if this refusal was "...intended to unilaterally pre-empt a discussion about documents the Senate may need and is entitled to".
However, the White House did agree to release around 75,000 pages of documents concerning Roberts' work in the Reagan administration. But, even they betray Roberts' extreme right wing tendencies that Bush wants hidden from the Senate and the American people.
These records from the National archives depict Roberts, then a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith, as a young man in his mid-twenties engaged in the conservative restructuring of government that the newly elected Ronald Reagan had promised.
Much of Roberts' time at the Justice Department was taken up by the debate over GOP-sponsored bills in Congress that would have stripped the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over abortion, busing and school prayer cases. He wrote repeatedly in opposition to the view, advanced by then-Assistant Attorney General Theodore B. Olson, that the bills were unconstitutional.
Roberts' reported stances on specific cases were telling. He argued for a narrow interpretation of Title IX, the law barring sex discrimination in college sports. He recommend not intervening on behalf of female prison inmates in a sex discrimination case involving job training. He argued for restrictions on the rights of prisoners to litigate their grievances. He called for limits on a lower court's order requiring a sign-language interpreter for a hearing-impaired public school student. And, he supported a wider latitude for prosecutors and police to question suspects without their attorneys present.
Roberts' records from the Reagan years expose him as being routinely opposed to citizen rights and supportive of overbearing government and corporate power. Furthermore, they do suggest that his documents from Bush W's first term denied to the Senate must be even more damming.
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Monday, July 25, 2005
This Liar Is Supposed to Interpret Our Laws?
- from a Washington Post article By Charles Lane in BuzzFlash.com
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly claimed that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society. And, the White House relayed this claim to various mainstream news sources who had previously reported his membership. So, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Associated Press and others, following their usual practice of towing the administration line, dutifully printed corrections.
However, this lie has been exposed by The Washington Post with its acquisition of a copy of the Federalist Society Lawyers' Division Leadership Directory, 1997-1998. It lists Roberts, then a partner at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, as a member of the steering committee of the organization's Washington chapter and includes his firm's address and telephone number.
Establishing his association with the Federalist Society is important because Roberts has not amassed much of a public paper record that would show his judicial philosophy. Working with the society would provide some clue of his stances.
In conservative circles, connection with the Federalist Society has become a stamp of approval for one's right wing ideological and political credentials. In the past, Roberts' membership was routinely reported by news organizations in the context of his work in two GOP administrations and legal assistance to the party during the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida.
Whether or not Roberts was a dues paying member is of no significance. Federalist Society Executive Vice President Leonard A. Leo said that membership in the sense of paying dues was not required as a condition of inclusion in a listing of the society's leadership. The society is tolerant of those who come to its meetings or serve on committees without paying dues. He declined to say whether Roberts had ever paid dues, citing a policy of keeping membership information confidential.
The Federalist Society sponsors legal symposia and similar activities and serves as a network for rising conservative lawyers. And, many Democrats regard the organization with suspicion. Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a liberal organization that has been critical of the Roberts nomination, said "As this episode (attempted cover up) makes clear, the Senate needs to go behind the glowing accounts of Roberts' record to figure out what he really thinks and what he really did."
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- from a Washington Post article By Charles Lane in BuzzFlash.com
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly claimed that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society. And, the White House relayed this claim to various mainstream news sources who had previously reported his membership. So, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Associated Press and others, following their usual practice of towing the administration line, dutifully printed corrections.
However, this lie has been exposed by The Washington Post with its acquisition of a copy of the Federalist Society Lawyers' Division Leadership Directory, 1997-1998. It lists Roberts, then a partner at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, as a member of the steering committee of the organization's Washington chapter and includes his firm's address and telephone number.
Establishing his association with the Federalist Society is important because Roberts has not amassed much of a public paper record that would show his judicial philosophy. Working with the society would provide some clue of his stances.
In conservative circles, connection with the Federalist Society has become a stamp of approval for one's right wing ideological and political credentials. In the past, Roberts' membership was routinely reported by news organizations in the context of his work in two GOP administrations and legal assistance to the party during the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida.
Whether or not Roberts was a dues paying member is of no significance. Federalist Society Executive Vice President Leonard A. Leo said that membership in the sense of paying dues was not required as a condition of inclusion in a listing of the society's leadership. The society is tolerant of those who come to its meetings or serve on committees without paying dues. He declined to say whether Roberts had ever paid dues, citing a policy of keeping membership information confidential.
The Federalist Society sponsors legal symposia and similar activities and serves as a network for rising conservative lawyers. And, many Democrats regard the organization with suspicion. Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a liberal organization that has been critical of the Roberts nomination, said "As this episode (attempted cover up) makes clear, the Senate needs to go behind the glowing accounts of Roberts' record to figure out what he really thinks and what he really did."
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Friday, July 22, 2005
Former Vietnam Combat and Commercial Pilot Is a Firm Believer that 9/11 Was an Inside Government Job.
from an article by By Greg Szymanski on lewisnews.com
Russ Wittenberg, having been a former fighter pilot who flew over 100 combat missions in Vietnam and who sat for 35 years in the cockpit for Pan Am and United, immediately thought that 9/11 was an inside job and that the 'big boys' were up to the same dirty tricks they played in the Kennedy assassination and Pearl Harbor.
Now, almost four years later, Wittenberg said that the country he loved and fought so bravely 40 years ago has fallen in the deep, dark and sinister hands of fascist leaders who are quickly turning America into a military state. However, especially in the last six months, he said more Americans are waking up to the cold reality that the U.S. government staged 9/11, started an illegal war in Iraq and basically is criminally responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives here and abroad. Whitenberg said Americans need to "wake up and wake up fast."
He said that 9/11 was the lynch pin for the Bush administration's neo con 'neat little contrived war package' needed to usher in a state of constant fear, a climate of war and a perfect setting for the unconstitutional Patriot Act and eventual martial law.
He believes,"The government story they handed us about 9/11 is total B.S." He said that he also thoroughly went over the recent 9/11 Commission report, finding about 110 outright lies and numerous other half-truths and omissions in an obvious cover-up. He said Condaleeza Rice lied through her teeth when she testified."
With his experience, Wittenberg felt that the hijackers - who couldn't even handle a Piper Cub - were not able to fly the 'big birds' he flew for so many years. And, he believed the planes were incapable of performing such high speed maneuvers as the government claimed. Furthermore, it was his contention that the possibility of jet fuel bringing down the towers made no sense.
So, right after 9/11 when it was unpopular and considered almost treasonous to question the government, Wittenberg became the first commercial airline pilot with experience flying the jets used in 9/11 to publicly denounce the government story.
He spoke publicly on many occasions about the government account of 9/11. Knowing the flight characteristics of the 'big birds' like the back of his hand, Wittenberg argued there was absolutely no possibility that Flight 77 could have "descended 7,000 feet in two minutes, all the while performing a steep 270 degree banked turn before crashing into the Pentagon's first floor wall without touching the lawn." He claimed the high speed maneuver would have surely stalled the jetliner sending it into a nose dive. He added that it was "totally impossible for an amateur who couldn't even fly a Cessna to maneuver the jetliner in such a highly professional manner." Wittenberg admitted that he couldn't do this incredible feat even with his 35 years of commercial jetliner experience.
"For a guy to just jump into the cockpit and fly like an ace is impossible, there is not one chance in a thousand," he said. When he made the jump from Boeing 727's to the highly sophisticated computerized characteristics of the 737's through 767's it took him considerable time to feel comfortable flying. "I had to be trained to use the new, computerized systems. I just couldn't jump in and fly one," he added.
About Flight 77, Wittenberg recalled the recent statements made by a flight controller on ABC's 20/20. "If you listened to her carefully only an experienced pilot probably would have known that what she was saying was scripted," he said. "Remember the transponder was turned off on Flight 77 and when this occurs, all the particular flight data like air speed and even the plane's flight identification goes with it. All that's left on the controller's screen is a green blip, that's it. But, here you have this flight controller on 20/20 saying she was tracking the flight with specific air speed and other coordinates which was totally impossible once the transponder was turned off. How would she even have known the flight number? The whole story is a pack of lies and this is just another example."
And from the moment Wittenberg called attention to the lies, he has been severely criticized. "I've learned over the years, it's hard to change anybody's mind when they really aren't listening," he said. "So, I just decided to fire back a lot of questions to those people who believe the government story. "I ask them explain how Building No.7 collapsed? I ask them why haven't the 'black boxes' been recovered? I ask them to explain how jet fuel that burns cold not hot -- could bring down two high rise structures when more than 90% of the fuel on board burned outside the buildings?" And, Whitenberg said he has hundreds of other tough questions ready.
He puts 9/11 and the Iraq war in a historical prospective. "Is 9/11 and the phony war on terror any different or more serious than Pearl Harbor and World War II?" asks Wittenberg. "The bottom line is all wars are contrived and it is these rich bankers and financiers who have pulled the strings and who have put these contrived events like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor into motion."
The real cause and effect issues about the root problems with America and the world are being ignored. "It's simply bizarre. Maybe our one-sided foreign policy that keeps getting us into all this trouble around the world should be seriously questioned," said Wittenberg. "If we are really fighting terror, why are our borders just to the south completely wide open? It's a joke."
Regarding another terror attack in America, he said, "It's not if but when." He claims that the unconstitutional Patriot Act is waiting in the wings to silence those Americans who may not fall in line with the government's eventual takeover. "They passed it for a reason. The problem with our two party system is that the same group of gangsters controls both parties," said Wittenberg.
He said,"More people are listening now, but it doesn't surprise me that still a lot of people just don't want to get involved, thinking things are just fine in America." He added,"These people are perfectly content to play golf, watch the ballgame and not get involved."
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from an article by By Greg Szymanski on lewisnews.com
Russ Wittenberg, having been a former fighter pilot who flew over 100 combat missions in Vietnam and who sat for 35 years in the cockpit for Pan Am and United, immediately thought that 9/11 was an inside job and that the 'big boys' were up to the same dirty tricks they played in the Kennedy assassination and Pearl Harbor.
Now, almost four years later, Wittenberg said that the country he loved and fought so bravely 40 years ago has fallen in the deep, dark and sinister hands of fascist leaders who are quickly turning America into a military state. However, especially in the last six months, he said more Americans are waking up to the cold reality that the U.S. government staged 9/11, started an illegal war in Iraq and basically is criminally responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives here and abroad. Whitenberg said Americans need to "wake up and wake up fast."
He said that 9/11 was the lynch pin for the Bush administration's neo con 'neat little contrived war package' needed to usher in a state of constant fear, a climate of war and a perfect setting for the unconstitutional Patriot Act and eventual martial law.
He believes,"The government story they handed us about 9/11 is total B.S." He said that he also thoroughly went over the recent 9/11 Commission report, finding about 110 outright lies and numerous other half-truths and omissions in an obvious cover-up. He said Condaleeza Rice lied through her teeth when she testified."
With his experience, Wittenberg felt that the hijackers - who couldn't even handle a Piper Cub - were not able to fly the 'big birds' he flew for so many years. And, he believed the planes were incapable of performing such high speed maneuvers as the government claimed. Furthermore, it was his contention that the possibility of jet fuel bringing down the towers made no sense.
So, right after 9/11 when it was unpopular and considered almost treasonous to question the government, Wittenberg became the first commercial airline pilot with experience flying the jets used in 9/11 to publicly denounce the government story.
He spoke publicly on many occasions about the government account of 9/11. Knowing the flight characteristics of the 'big birds' like the back of his hand, Wittenberg argued there was absolutely no possibility that Flight 77 could have "descended 7,000 feet in two minutes, all the while performing a steep 270 degree banked turn before crashing into the Pentagon's first floor wall without touching the lawn." He claimed the high speed maneuver would have surely stalled the jetliner sending it into a nose dive. He added that it was "totally impossible for an amateur who couldn't even fly a Cessna to maneuver the jetliner in such a highly professional manner." Wittenberg admitted that he couldn't do this incredible feat even with his 35 years of commercial jetliner experience.
"For a guy to just jump into the cockpit and fly like an ace is impossible, there is not one chance in a thousand," he said. When he made the jump from Boeing 727's to the highly sophisticated computerized characteristics of the 737's through 767's it took him considerable time to feel comfortable flying. "I had to be trained to use the new, computerized systems. I just couldn't jump in and fly one," he added.
About Flight 77, Wittenberg recalled the recent statements made by a flight controller on ABC's 20/20. "If you listened to her carefully only an experienced pilot probably would have known that what she was saying was scripted," he said. "Remember the transponder was turned off on Flight 77 and when this occurs, all the particular flight data like air speed and even the plane's flight identification goes with it. All that's left on the controller's screen is a green blip, that's it. But, here you have this flight controller on 20/20 saying she was tracking the flight with specific air speed and other coordinates which was totally impossible once the transponder was turned off. How would she even have known the flight number? The whole story is a pack of lies and this is just another example."
And from the moment Wittenberg called attention to the lies, he has been severely criticized. "I've learned over the years, it's hard to change anybody's mind when they really aren't listening," he said. "So, I just decided to fire back a lot of questions to those people who believe the government story. "I ask them explain how Building No.7 collapsed? I ask them why haven't the 'black boxes' been recovered? I ask them to explain how jet fuel that burns cold not hot -- could bring down two high rise structures when more than 90% of the fuel on board burned outside the buildings?" And, Whitenberg said he has hundreds of other tough questions ready.
He puts 9/11 and the Iraq war in a historical prospective. "Is 9/11 and the phony war on terror any different or more serious than Pearl Harbor and World War II?" asks Wittenberg. "The bottom line is all wars are contrived and it is these rich bankers and financiers who have pulled the strings and who have put these contrived events like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor into motion."
The real cause and effect issues about the root problems with America and the world are being ignored. "It's simply bizarre. Maybe our one-sided foreign policy that keeps getting us into all this trouble around the world should be seriously questioned," said Wittenberg. "If we are really fighting terror, why are our borders just to the south completely wide open? It's a joke."
Regarding another terror attack in America, he said, "It's not if but when." He claims that the unconstitutional Patriot Act is waiting in the wings to silence those Americans who may not fall in line with the government's eventual takeover. "They passed it for a reason. The problem with our two party system is that the same group of gangsters controls both parties," said Wittenberg.
He said,"More people are listening now, but it doesn't surprise me that still a lot of people just don't want to get involved, thinking things are just fine in America." He added,"These people are perfectly content to play golf, watch the ballgame and not get involved."
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
Roberts Gave Bush Advice in 2000 Recount.
from an article by Gary Fineout and Mary Ellen Klas
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts provided legal advice to Gov. Jeb Bush in the weeks following the November 2000 election as part of the effort to make sure the governor's brother won the disputed presidential vote. He spent between 30 and 40 minutes talking to Bush in the governor's conference room according to sources.
Roberts, at the time a private attorney in Washington, D.C., came to Tallahassee to advise the state's Republican administration on the recount. Bush strategists were fearful that Gore's attorneys would try to subpoena the Certificate of Ascertainment (list of Electoral College members from Florida). This end game maneuver, which the Democrats never did attempt, might have blocked the state from sending the certificate to Congress and the National Archives in a timely fashion, voiding Florida's 25 electoral votes and making Gore the winner because he had garnered more electoral votes than George W. Bush in the rest of the country.
The reason that Roberts was tapped was his connection to Dean Colson, a lawyer with the Miami firm of Colson Hicks Eidson. Colson had been a clerk for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist at the same time as Roberts in 1980 and was best man at Roberts' wedding. Brian Yablonski, who was then a top aide to the governor, worked at the Colson law firm before he went to work with Bush.
Incidentally, the ties between the firm where Roberts worked at the time, Hogan & Hartson, and Florida's government has grown deeper since the recount.
Roberts' perceived partisanship during the recount has been enough for some Democrats to suggest that his nomination should be rejected by the U.S. Senate.
US Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Florida) said, "Judge Roberts worked to ensure that George Bush would become president regardless of what the courts might decide." (News accounts suggested that Roberts gave Jeb Bush advice on how the state legislature could name Bush the winner.) Wexler continued, "And now he is being rewarded for that partisan service by being appointed to the nation's highest court."
Wexler suggested it should be grounds for rejecting his nomination, because it "threw salt on the wounds of the thousands of Floridians whose voting rights were disenfranchised during the 2000 election".
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from an article by Gary Fineout and Mary Ellen Klas
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts provided legal advice to Gov. Jeb Bush in the weeks following the November 2000 election as part of the effort to make sure the governor's brother won the disputed presidential vote. He spent between 30 and 40 minutes talking to Bush in the governor's conference room according to sources.
Roberts, at the time a private attorney in Washington, D.C., came to Tallahassee to advise the state's Republican administration on the recount. Bush strategists were fearful that Gore's attorneys would try to subpoena the Certificate of Ascertainment (list of Electoral College members from Florida). This end game maneuver, which the Democrats never did attempt, might have blocked the state from sending the certificate to Congress and the National Archives in a timely fashion, voiding Florida's 25 electoral votes and making Gore the winner because he had garnered more electoral votes than George W. Bush in the rest of the country.
The reason that Roberts was tapped was his connection to Dean Colson, a lawyer with the Miami firm of Colson Hicks Eidson. Colson had been a clerk for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist at the same time as Roberts in 1980 and was best man at Roberts' wedding. Brian Yablonski, who was then a top aide to the governor, worked at the Colson law firm before he went to work with Bush.
Incidentally, the ties between the firm where Roberts worked at the time, Hogan & Hartson, and Florida's government has grown deeper since the recount.
Roberts' perceived partisanship during the recount has been enough for some Democrats to suggest that his nomination should be rejected by the U.S. Senate.
US Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Florida) said, "Judge Roberts worked to ensure that George Bush would become president regardless of what the courts might decide." (News accounts suggested that Roberts gave Jeb Bush advice on how the state legislature could name Bush the winner.) Wexler continued, "And now he is being rewarded for that partisan service by being appointed to the nation's highest court."
Wexler suggested it should be grounds for rejecting his nomination, because it "threw salt on the wounds of the thousands of Floridians whose voting rights were disenfranchised during the 2000 election".
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It Is a Lie that America Was Founded on Christian Beliefs.
Contrary to 'Religious Right' propaganda, seven of the nine founding fathers denied the divinity of Jesus.
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Contrary to 'Religious Right' propaganda, seven of the nine founding fathers denied the divinity of Jesus.
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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Bush's Supreme Court Nominee JOHN ROBERTS Is Decidedly a Right Wing Extremist.
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.
As a Deputy Solicitor General, Mr. Roberts co-wrote a Supreme Court brief in Rust v. Sullivan, 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.
Religion in Schools.
While working with the Solicitor General's office, Mr. Roberts co-wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the Bush administration, in whichhe argued that public high schools can include religious ceremonies in their graduation programs, a view the Supreme Court rejected.
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.
As a lawyer in private practice, Mr. Roberts has also represented large corporate interests opposing environmental controls. He submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the National Mining Association in the recent case Bragg v. West Virginia Coal Association. In this case, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit reversed a district court ruling that had stopped the practice of "mountaintop removal" in the state of West Virginia. Citizens of West Virginia who were adversely affected by the practice had sued the state, claiming damage to both their homes and the surrounding area generally. Three Republican appointees - Judges Niemeyer, Luttig, and Williams - held that West Virginia's issuance of permits to mining companies to extract coal by blasting the tops off of mountains and depositing the debris in nearby valleys and streams did not violate the 1977 Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. This decision was greeted with great dismay by environmental groups. In another case, Roberts represented one of several intervenors in a case challenging the EPA's promulgation of rules to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
Civil Rights.
After a Supreme Court decision effectively nullified certain sections of the Voting Rights Act, Roberts was involved in the Reagan administration's effort to prevent Congress from overturning the Supreme Court's action. The Supreme Court had recently decided that certain sections of the Voting Rights Act could only be violated by intentional discrimination and not by laws that had a discriminatory effect, despite a lack of textual basis for this interpretation in the statute. Roberts was part of the effort to legitimize that decision and to stop Congress from overturning it.
Other Information.
Mr. Roberts is a member of two prominent, right wing legal groups that promote a pro-corporate, anti-regulatory agenda: the Federalist Society and the National Legal Center For The Public Interest, serving on the latter group's Legal Advisory Council.
Mr. Roberts lists his net worth as over $3.7 million.
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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.
As a Deputy Solicitor General, Mr. Roberts co-wrote a Supreme Court brief in Rust v. Sullivan, 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.
Religion in Schools.
While working with the Solicitor General's office, Mr. Roberts co-wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the Bush administration, in whichhe argued that public high schools can include religious ceremonies in their graduation programs, a view the Supreme Court rejected.
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.
As a lawyer in private practice, Mr. Roberts has also represented large corporate interests opposing environmental controls. He submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the National Mining Association in the recent case Bragg v. West Virginia Coal Association. In this case, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit reversed a district court ruling that had stopped the practice of "mountaintop removal" in the state of West Virginia. Citizens of West Virginia who were adversely affected by the practice had sued the state, claiming damage to both their homes and the surrounding area generally. Three Republican appointees - Judges Niemeyer, Luttig, and Williams - held that West Virginia's issuance of permits to mining companies to extract coal by blasting the tops off of mountains and depositing the debris in nearby valleys and streams did not violate the 1977 Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. This decision was greeted with great dismay by environmental groups. In another case, Roberts represented one of several intervenors in a case challenging the EPA's promulgation of rules to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
Civil Rights.
After a Supreme Court decision effectively nullified certain sections of the Voting Rights Act, Roberts was involved in the Reagan administration's effort to prevent Congress from overturning the Supreme Court's action. The Supreme Court had recently decided that certain sections of the Voting Rights Act could only be violated by intentional discrimination and not by laws that had a discriminatory effect, despite a lack of textual basis for this interpretation in the statute. Roberts was part of the effort to legitimize that decision and to stop Congress from overturning it.
Other Information.
Mr. Roberts is a member of two prominent, right wing legal groups that promote a pro-corporate, anti-regulatory agenda: the Federalist Society and the National Legal Center For The Public Interest, serving on the latter group's Legal Advisory Council.
Mr. Roberts lists his net worth as over $3.7 million.
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Wednesday, July 13, 2005
The BUSH-CHENEY Drug Cartel
from an article by Amy Worthington
The Afghan opium fields are producing bumper crops now that Afghanistan has a puppet government installed by the U.S. military. Afghanistan under the U.S. puppet government is a premier narco state according to the United Nations. Bush-Cheney are now in control of 87 percent of the world's illegal production of opium. Just about every educated person knows that US. military and intelligence agencies have used the international narcotics trade to fund their black budgets for decades. When the Taliban so rudely terminated the opium industry in the late 90's, Bush-Cheney had to demonize Afghanistan as an excuse to invade and re-establish their lucrative opium industry. Remember the Bush dynasty has ALSO been involved with the international cocaine industry since Bush Sr. ran the Iran-Contra project during the Reagan era.
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from an article by Amy Worthington
The Afghan opium fields are producing bumper crops now that Afghanistan has a puppet government installed by the U.S. military. Afghanistan under the U.S. puppet government is a premier narco state according to the United Nations. Bush-Cheney are now in control of 87 percent of the world's illegal production of opium. Just about every educated person knows that US. military and intelligence agencies have used the international narcotics trade to fund their black budgets for decades. When the Taliban so rudely terminated the opium industry in the late 90's, Bush-Cheney had to demonize Afghanistan as an excuse to invade and re-establish their lucrative opium industry. Remember the Bush dynasty has ALSO been involved with the international cocaine industry since Bush Sr. ran the Iran-Contra project during the Reagan era.
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Saturday, July 09, 2005
Cheney Witch Hunts - from Molly Ivans
Lynne Cheney, the veeper's wife, has formed the Committee to Protect American Civilization, which is publishing 100 examples of allegedly unpatriotic assertions by professors in our nation.
(Editors note: Lynne Cheney is doing her part towards the Republican goal of stifling free speech and dissent. Now that the Republicans control the mainstream American press, could it be they are trying to revive their 1950's McCarthy era witch hunts, which were derailed by Edward R. Murrow and the unencumbered press of that time?)
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Lynne Cheney, the veeper's wife, has formed the Committee to Protect American Civilization, which is publishing 100 examples of allegedly unpatriotic assertions by professors in our nation.
(Editors note: Lynne Cheney is doing her part towards the Republican goal of stifling free speech and dissent. Now that the Republicans control the mainstream American press, could it be they are trying to revive their 1950's McCarthy era witch hunts, which were derailed by Edward R. Murrow and the unencumbered press of that time?)
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