Rarely do I disagree with Fred Barnes, but this is one of those occasions. Judge Roberts is far more Conservative than everyone on the list besides Luttig. Judge Roberts is 50 years old and he will make a huge impact on the Court and we need to rally behind him
I think Barnes is also wrong in his description of Souter "drifting left" as well. While some Justices have "grown" over the years, Souter went through a pubescent growth spurt within a year of joining the Supremes.
Fred was in a snit tonight; he must have crossed and uncrossed his arms 100 times.
I think Barnes' main point is that if the Senate Democrats had objected more strenuously in 2003, they might have grounds to object now. They did not, therefore any objections they may raise now would be pure "politicking" and the height of hypocrisy.
If there's anything to disagree with Barnes' on, perhaps it is his assumption that the Democrats will see the trap and avoid it by pass Roberts through with little or no opposition.
Of course, the Democrats are going to fall for the trap (probably orchestrated by Rove back in 2003 when Roberts was first nominated for a judgeship... ;-). This means that another fraction of right-leaning Democrats are going to see the hypocrisy of the Democratic leadership and swing their votes in 2006 to Republicans.
I sure hope you're right. Not being willing to overturn Roe would certainly not qualify Roberts as the Scalia-like justice Bush promised to appoint.
"A culture of life can never be built as long as Roe v. Wade is the law of the land," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
"We appreciate President Bush being a man of his word by appointing a judge that will respect the Right to Life acknowledged by our nation's founding documents," said Newman. "We pray that Roberts will be swiftly confirmed."
"Our nation has suffered enough under decades of liberal activist judges legislating from the bench," said OR spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger. "After 45 million dead children, we are guardedly optimistic that the confirmation of Judge Roberts will be a step toward restoring protections for the pre-born that were stolen from them in 1973."
How do you know this???