Liberal group to oppose Roberts
The liberal advocacy group People for the American Way plans to formally oppose the Supreme Court nomination of Judge John G. Roberts.
PFAW has been consistently critical of Roberts since President Bush five weeks ago nominated the D.C. Appeals Court judge to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But the organization and its outspoken leader Ralph Neas have till now stopped short of officially opposing the nominee.
Neas, a veteran of Supreme Court battles, has called a press conference for Wednesday at which he plans to repudiate Roberts's nomination and release a 50-page report critical of the nominee as well as the White House's refusal to release documents from his time as deputy solicitor general during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. And by Monday, a coalition of liberal and progressive interest groups is expected to join in explicit opposition to Roberts, beginning a wave of anti-Roberts announcements Democratic strategists say will likely continue until the September 6 start of the nominee's Senate confirmation hearings.
Though Neas declined Tuesday to comment specifically about his planned announcement, PFAW and other interest groups have mined thousands of documents already released from Roberts's time as government lawyer in the Reagan and senior Bush administrations. They argue that his public record shows that the nominee is a "conservative ideologue" who would seek to "turn the clock back" on civil rights‑including women's rights and affirmative action‑lower the wall between church and state, and curtail the judiciary's right to rule on controversial cultural issues, such as same-sex marriage.
Gary Marx, executive director of the Judicial Confirmation Network, a conservative interest group devoted to getting the Bush administration's judicial nominees approved, said the announcement was not unexpected.
"Big surprise. This is pro forma," Marx said. "They've been saying the exact same things from the day Judge Roberts was announced‑and even before there was a nominee.
"We're ready to play aggressive defense."
advertisement
