 | |  |
 |
|
|
|
Supreme
Court Justice Hearings Begin Tuesday |
Posted:
08.31.05
|
|
|
For the first time in 11 years, senators are considering a new
Supreme Court justice and debating legal issues that will shape
the future culture and rules of life in America.
Printer-friendly versions: PDF
|
|
|
|
|
Senators will debate the future of the Supreme Court as hearings
over President Bush's nomination of Judge John Roberts to be one
of the nine top justices begin Tuesday.
Liberal and conservative activists are gearing up for a fight
over legal philosophy that could have a profound affect on American
society.
 Roberts
would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first women Supreme
Court justice, whose votes helped define laws regarding volatile
issues such as abortion, affirmative action, states' rights and
the death penalty.
In the coming decades, the Supreme Court also will hear cases
having to do with the rapid changes caused by science, technology
and the changing face of America, according to Jeffrey Rosen,
a law professor at George Washington University.
Future cases could include such unpredictable issues as the genetic
enhancement of children or the use of brain scanning to identify
criminal suspects, Rosen predicted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seeking clues
to Roberts' legal philosophy |
|
|
|
|
|
Because Roberts spent most of his career as a lawyer hired to
argue clients' cases, not much is known about his personal legal
beliefs.
Most of the evidence of Roberts' legal philosophy is contained
in documents from the 1980s when he worked for President Reagan.
The writings show "a young, incredibly smart, witty, conservative
lawyer who carefully and cautiously defended the positions of
the conservative Reagan administration," said Supreme Court
reporter Jan Crawford Greenberg who read many of the documents.
 The
documents include a reference to abortion as "tragedy,"
opposition to a federal court decision that aimed to insure equal
pay for women and support for prayer in public schools. He wrote
that a Supreme Court decision barring a certain case of school
prayer "seems indefensible."
In 1995, Roberts supported the argument of a white businessman
challenging a government affirmative action contracts program.
"The government has to act on the basis of who people are,
not what they are. And that's a very powerful principle. It's
the principle of equal protection," he said in a NewsHour
interview.
|
|
|
|
Senators
will decide Roberts' fate |
|
|
|
|
|
The 18 senators on the Judiciary Committee will ask Roberts questions
and then vote on whether to report the nomination to the full
Senate. A majority vote of the Senate is required to confirm a
nominee.
The committee chairman, 75-year-old Republican Arlen Specter
of Pennsylvania, will control the hearings. Specter, who recently
lost his hair due to treatment for cancer, has said Roberts will
likely be confirmed, but added that there will be questions about
recent Supreme Court rulings overturning laws created by Congress.
 "[Supreme
Court justices] have taken over a great deal of Congress' authority
in striking down very important legislation which we enact…
key provisions are declared unconstitutional because the court
does not think we have a sufficient factual record where I think
we have a very extensive record," he said.
"They have challenged our method of reasoning, and I do not
believe they have any stature to say that our reasoning is deficient
to theirs so that when we select people for the Supreme Court,
I think that the Senate is under a very heavy responsibility to
do our best to have a proper allocation of power among the branches
of government."
His Democratic counterpart, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said Congress
won't approve Roberts without close scrutiny. Leahy says some
of Roberts' writings suggest a radical legal philosophy "intent
on reversing decades of policies on civil rights, voting rights,
women's rights, privacy and access to justice."
"I wanted to make sure he understands there's a lot of discrimination
in the United States today. We have laws that try to redress that
and is he going to be open to the application of those laws?"
The hearings are expected to last several days.
--
Compiled by Leah Clapman for NewsHour Extra
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joplin was able to rise from the ashes because of help from everyone. And I am eternally grateful to anyone who made that possible.
