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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2005)
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Job Hotline: 503-988-5035 TTY: 503-988-5170 an equal opportunity employer MULTNOMAH COUNTY <--------------------------------------------------------------------- I-■ UZu’w an ordinary Realtor simply won't do... www.multcojobs.org sorry. me dont do exotics T^ose Ci/y VETERINARY 11 \l. ( )S I’l l CRAIG QUIRK DVM STEPHEN KOCHIS DVM 3144 SE Belmont Portland, OR 97214 office: 503-238-7617 809 SE Powell Blvd 232-3105 resident Bush nominated Judge John that “he is basically a lifelong worker for Repub G. Roberts Jr. to the U.S. Supreme lican administrations.” Court in a primetime television Legislative director Christopher Labonte address to the nation July 19. said HRC would work “to ensure that we have “The decisions of the Supreme a firm understanding of what Judge Roberts’ Court affect the life of every American. And so judicial philosophy is in terms of those issues a nominee to that court must be a person of that are important to the GLBT community.” superb credentials and the highest integrity, One of those issues is how he would have voted a person who will faithfully apply the Constitu on Lawrence vs. Texas, which struck down the tion and keep our founding promise of equal jus remaining state sodomy laws. tice under law,” Bush said. Roberts, 50, attended Harvard for both undergraduate and law school, then served as a law clerk for Justice William Rehnquist, as an associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan and as princi ple deputy solicitor general in the Department of Justice. Much of his legal work in the private sector was in appellate work. Between government and private practice, he argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court, a substantial number for any liti gator. The court heard only 80 cases dur Judge John G. Roberts Jr. appears to be something of ing the session that just ended. a clean slate. “It is both an honor and very hum bling to be nominated to serve on the Supreme Labonte acknowledged that HRC did not Court,” Roberts said. “Before I became a judge, take a position on Roberts’ nomination to the my law practice consisted largely of arguing D.C. Circuit and that it has not yet taken a cases before the court. That experience left me position on this nomination. He said, “The with a profound appreciation for the role of the Supreme Court is a completely different ques court in our constitutional democracy and a tion from any other lower court.” deep regard for the court as in institution.” Matt Foreman, executive director of the Roberts has been on the short list of conser National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, hedged vatives considered for the bench. And while his bets. He said the nomination “gives us great acceptable to social conservatives, he has not pause, particularly in light of Roberts’ role in the been one of their favorites. He is more of a tra counsel’s office of President Reagan and the ditional or establishment conservative than one solicitor general’s office of President George with close ties to groups around James Dobson H.W. Bush.” and Focus on the Family. He urged the Senate “to thoroughly review “In nominating Judge Roberts to replace Jus and evaluate Roberts’ commitment to individ tice O’Connor on the Supreme Court, Presi ual rights and equal justice under the law, dent Bush has just about guaranteed that divi including his record and thinking about civil siveness will continue to reign in the judicial rights, the right to privacy and the reach of con nomination process,” asserted Kevin Cathcart, gressional power under the Constitution.” executive director of Lambda Legal. National Stonewall Democrats took a wait- However, he offered no charges against the and-see approach. “Both the nominee, and the nominee; his qualms are those of uncertainty. nation, deserves a confirmation process that is Cathcart said, “We need to know if he will fair and free from partisan politics,” said deputy stand up for the rights of all Americans, not director Jo Wyrick. “Senate hearings into a whether some people think he’s a nice guy.” The nominee’s record will help prevent the Ameri group is reviewing his record. can public from unfairly prejudging a nominee “With the Roberts nomination, the right to based on personality alone." privacy and the future of a fair-minded court are The nation’s leading newspapers greeted the in grave danger,” said Joe Solmonese, president nomination favorably but stopped short of a for of the Human Rights Campaign, in a statement mal endorsement. released by the organization. He cited Roberts’ “Judge Roberts is a conservative, but he has role as a federal attorney in 1991 arguing that never been an ideological crusader; he has the cornerstone of abortion rights, Roe vs. admirers among liberals,” wrote The Washington Wade, be overturned. Post in an editorial. His “law practice was not “Reversing Roe could undermine fundamen ideologically driven, and he has not used his tal rights to privacy and liberty that are the legal brief time on the bench—as some judges and underpinning for the freedom of gay, lesbian, justices do—as a platform to promote either his bisexual and transgender Americans,” he said. politics or a grandiose theory of judging.” Solmonese previously led an organization that The Los Angeles Times wrote, “Perhaps his focused on electing pro-choice Democratic most important characteristic is a near-ideal women to federal office. mixture of familiarity and inscrutabil In a conference call with reporters the next ity. . .Roberts may be more of a chamber of com morning, HRC senior legal counsel Lara merce-type than a social conservative with a Schwartz said, “There is not a paper trail regard burning desire to become a judicial activist ing Judge Roberts’ specific views regarding the intent on saving America from itself.” JF1 rights and liberties, the constitutional and legal protections for the GLBT community.” It B ob R o EHR is a free-lance reporter based in appeared that her chief objection to Roberts is Washington, D.C.
