John Roberts: Uncompassionate Conservative

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Marjorie Cohn | John Roberts: Uncompassionate Conservative

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 11:31:32 -0700

 

 

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605Y.shtml

 

John Roberts: Uncompassionate Conservative

By Marjorie Cohn

t r u t h o u t | Perspective

 

Tuesday 06 September 2005

 

George W. Bush has nominated John Roberts to be Chief Justice of

the United States. Bush lauded Roberts for his " goodwill and decency

toward others. " Yet Roberts' record reveals a callous disregard for

the rights of people very much like the tens of thousands who have

died and been rendered homeless by Katrina.

 

The outpouring of compassion by people all over this country - and

indeed, the world - in the wake of Hurricane Katrina stands in stark

contrast to Bush's actions both before and after the tragedy. In spite

of warnings about the weak levees in New Orleans, Bush cut the Army

Corps of Engineers' budget for levee construction by 44 percent. By

sending the National Guard to fight in his trumped-up war on Iraq,

Bush deprived the people of New Orleans of critical assistance

immediately after the hurricane struck. The day after what may be the

worst disaster ever to hit the United States, Bush refused to

interrupt his golf game to exercise badly needed leadership.

 

Most of the tragic images flashing across our television screens

are of African Americans. They are suffering indescribable hardship as

a result of an administration that failed to protect them from the

predicted hurricane, and then failed to timely render aid that would

have saved thousands of lives.

 

John Roberts' career has established his credentials as an

uncompassionate conservative. He has worked consistently to deny

access to the courts to individuals who have suffered harm like those

in New Orleans. He has long been an enemy of civil rights - for the

poor, for minorities, for women, for the disabled, for workers, and

for a clean and safe environment.

 

Roberts tried to cut back the federal law that allows people to

sue the government when they have been deprived of their federal

rights. When he worked at the Solicitor General's office in the George

Bush I administration, Roberts wrote an amicus brief in which he

argued that the state of Virginia should not reimburse hospitals for

Medicaid claims at reasonable rates. Roberts said the Medicaid Act did

not create any enforceable rights. Roberts would likely deny relief to

people in New Orleans who seek to recover medical costs from a

government that failed to protect them.

 

Roberts viewed legislation to fortify the Fair Housing Act as

" government intrusion. "

 

Roberts condemned a Supreme Court decision striking down a Texas

law that allowed schools to deny admission to the children of

undocumented workers.

 

Roberts fought for a narrow interpretation of the Voting Rights

Act that would have made it much harder for minorities to get elected

to public office. He mischaracterized the Act as requiring " a quota

system for electoral politics. " Robert's characterization of the

Voting Rights Act borders on racism.

 

Roberts contended that Congress could pass a law to prevent all

federal courts from ordering busing to achieve school desegregation, a

position much more extreme than that adopted by the Reagan

administration. Roberts would likely have agreed with his boss William

Rehnquist, who argued to his boss Justice Robert Jackson that the

racist Plessy v. Ferguson's separate but equal doctrine should be

maintained.

 

Roberts took the position that affirmative action programs are

bound to fail because they require recruiting " inadequately prepared

candidates, " another unfounded and racist stance.

 

Roberts has referred to the " so-called 'right to privacy' " in the

Constitution; he argued that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and

should be overruled. Roberts' position would consign poor women who

could not afford to travel to a state that does allow abortion to coat

hangers in back alleys. Roberts would likely vote to uphold state laws

that made the sale of contraceptives illegal, which the Court struck

down in Griswold v. Connecticut.

 

Roberts worked to keep women who have suffered gender

discrimination out of court. He argued for a narrow interpretation of

Title IX that would effectively eviscerate its protections altogether.

Roberts wrote an amicus brief in which he argued that a student who

was sexually molested by her high school teacher was not entitled to

compensatory damages under Title IX. Fortunately, the Supreme Court

held otherwise, saying that the girl would have " no remedy at all " if

it had adopted Roberts' position.

 

Roberts ridiculed the gender pay equity theory of equal pay for

comparable work as a " radical redistributive concept. " He mocked

female Republican members of Congress who supported comparable worth,

writing, " Their slogan might as well be 'from each according to his

ability, to each according to her gender.' "

 

Roberts supported a dramatic weakening of the Education for All

Handicapped Children Act. He maintained that a deaf student who got by

in school by lip-reading and using a hearing aid was not entitled

under the Act to receive the services of a sign-language interpreter

in the classroom.

 

Roberts defended Toyota for firing a woman with carpal tunnel

syndrome.

 

Roberts argued on behalf of the National Mining Association that

West Virginia citizens could not prevent mining companies from

extracting coal by blasting the tops off of mountains and depositing

the debris in nearby valleys and streams.

 

Throughout his career, John Roberts has acted without " goodwill

and decency toward others. " His positions have demonstrated a mean

spirit that flies in the face of what we like to think America stands

for. The 50-year-old Roberts would have the opportunity to shape the

nation's highest court for the next two or three decades. A Roberts

Court would threaten the rights of all but the rich and powerful. It

is time for the Democrats to utter the " f " word: Filibuster.

 

Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law,

executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the US

representative to the executive committee of the American Association

of Jurists. She writes a weekly column for t r u t h o u t.

 

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