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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2005)
17 rTmWTTlnews W ho Is J ohn R oberts ? Lawrence lawyer discusses Supreme Court nominee by Bob Roehr aul M. Smith is an openly gay lawyer Lambda Legal in writing the appeal to the who argued and won the landmark Supreme Court. As the time approached for oral 2003 case of Lawrence vs. Texas, in arguments, Lambda decided to go with the which the U.S. Supreme Court struck attorney with more experience before the court down the remaining state sodomy and asked Smith to argue the case. laws. He also has a personal and professional his “It was not like any other argument that I tory with Supreme Court nominee John have G. given at the Supreme Court. The sense of Roberts that extends back more than 25 years. the historic importance of the occasion was pal Smith offered his unique perspective on pable,” Smith recalls. queer issues and on Roberts in this exclusive He was somewhat surprised by the broad interview. rather than more narrowly tailored decision The two first met through a mutual friend when it came down. “There was this sense that while in law school. Smith --------------------------------------- was at Yale, where he served as editor in chief of The Yale Law Journal, while Roberts was at Harvard, serving as managing edi tor of The Har- card Law Review. Their paths crossed more fre quently in 1979 when they clerked for dif ferent judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Cir cuit, which is based in New York City. The follow ing year both moved to Wash Ruth Harlow of Lambda Legal and Paul M. Smith meet the press after oral ington, D.C., to arguments on Lawrence. clerk for justices on the U.S. Supreme Court—Smith for Lewis F. Powell Jr., this was one of those cases of a generation.” Roberts for William H. Rehnquist. The 32 Smith says he never discussed the case or the young attorneys who served as clerks that year decision with Roberts; their paths have diverged had frequent contact in the course of their through the years. work, over lunch and in other activities such as While there is little question that the nomi the fierce basketball games played on the nee is a conservative, that philosophical tent court’s court. covers many shapes and forms. Smith hopes the “He was pretty conservative when he was a Senate Judiciary Committee delves into young guy. Where he is now, after a quarter-cen Roberts’ constitutional philosophy. tury of mellowing and being a real lawyers’ He also would press on the issues of stare deci' lawyer, as he has been, and representing the sis, the principle that you do not overrule prece clients who came in the door, as we saw with dents with which you might not agree, “and Romer, I’m not sure I know how to judge that.” whether or not [Roberts] believes there are any Smith was not out at the time; in fact, he limits on the government that are not expressly would marry a woman and only later come to set forth in the Bill of Rights” that can be terms with his homosexuality. So, he cautions, deduced from the stnicture of government. That the experience says nothing about how Roberts becomes important in the area of privacy, which interacted professionally and socially with a is not specified in the Constitution. Smith describes himself as a political “pro gay man. Smith and Roberts stayed in Washington, gressive” who has worked for Democratic clients both practicing in the small field of appellate on reapportionment cases. He joins in the broad praise of Roberts, saying, “I think that John will law, both rising to leading roles in prominent do very well.... He’s very self-assured.... He is law firms. one of the most respected members of the “He was a very nice guy and certainly [American Bar Association] in this city. He will remains that,” Smith said. “So it does not sur prise me that he stepped up and helped Jean be a very important justice, however he turns out in terms of some of these votes that every Dubofsky” when the attorney was preparing to body is trying to predict. He will be a leader of argue Romer vs. Evans, the first important gay the court because of his personality and because rights case. The court threw out Colorado’s of his intellect. -jm Amendment 2 as discriminating against gays. 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