LIVE THREAD: SCOTUS Nominee Watch (UPDATE: announcement at 9pm tonight)

But I'm liking him better with each passing minute. :-}

As Deputy Solicitor General, Roberts argued in a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in Rust v.Sullivan1(a case that did not implicate Roe v. Wade) that "[w]e continue to believe that Roe waswrongly decided and should be overruled.... [T]he Court's conclusion in Roe that there is a fundamental right to an abortion... finds no support in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution."

2Roberts, again as Deputy Solicitor General, even intervened as an amicus curiae for the United States in support of the extreme anti-choice group Operation Rescue and six individuals, who routinely blocked access to reproductive health care clinics. Intervening as amicus is a whollydiscretionary decision on the part of the Solicitor General, yet here the government chose to involve itself in a case in support of those who sought to deprive women of the right to choosethrough massive, often violent, blockades.

In Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic.3Roberts argued that the protesters' behavior did not amount to discrimination against women, even though only women could exercise the right to seek an abortion. Roberts argued that the blockades were mere expression of opposition to abortion.

4(The year after Bray was rendered, Congress enacted the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to protect women and health care providers from violence and harassment. 5)

Bray, like Rust v. Sullivan, did not implicate Roe v. Wade but was only concerned with whether a federal civil rights statute provided a remedy for women seeking access to clinics. Yet the Supreme Court was so accustomed to the Solicitor General and the Deputy Solicitor General arguing for the overturn of Roe that during Mr. Roberts' oral argument before the Supreme Court in Bray, a Justice asked, "Mr. Roberts, in this case are you asking that Roe v. Wade be overruled?" He responded, "No, your honor, the issue doesn't even come up." To this the justice said, "Well that hasn't prevented the Solicitor General from taking that position in prior cases."

6As noted above, we have based our opposition on Mr. Robert's demonstrated hostility to a woman's constitutional right to choose and his narrow view of the constitution's role in protecting individual rights. The Senate should not confirm the nomination of John Roberts to the UnitedStates Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

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Sincerely, Kate Michelman President Notes 1. 500 U.S. 173 (1991). 2. Brief for the Respondent at 13, Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173 (1991) (Nos. 89-1391, 89-1392). 3. 506 U.S. 263 (1993). 4. Transcript of Oral Reargument of John Roberts, Jr., dated Oct. 6, 1992, Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, 506 U.S. 263 (1993) (No. 90-985). 5. HR 796/S 636, 1994. 6. Transcript of Oral Argument of John Roberts, Jr., dated Oct. 16, 1991, Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, 506 U.S. 263(1993) (No. 90-985).

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