Posted on 08/06/2005 12:36:34 PM PDT by Embraer2004
Edwards Citicizes Supreme Court Nominee Friday July 29, 2005 12:49pm
Washington (AP) - Former Democratic senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards harshly criticized Supreme Court nominee John Roberts Friday, calling him "a partisan for conservative causes." Roberts, finishing his second week of visits with senators in search of confirmation votes, was being criticized from the sidelines in a speech that Edwards prepared for the American Constitution Society.
This came a day after Sen. Edward M. Kennedy accused Roberts, 50, of having a questionable commitment to civil rights.
Although the complaints aired Friday were among the toughest yet since Bush picked Roberts for the high court, there still were differences of opinion within the Senate Democratic caucus. And there remained no hint of a filibuster.
In fact, some other Democrats have called Roberts "outstanding" and have said they'd been assured he wouldn't be a conservative activist on the court.
But a review of paperwork that Roberts drafted while he worked in the Reagan administration shows a "very different young lawyer at work, a partisan for conservative causes," said Edwards.
Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, voted to confirm Roberts' earlier nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia when he was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee two years ago.
"Someone who opposed efforts to remedy discrimination on the basis of sex and race," Edwards said in his prepared remarks. "Someone who opposed measures to protect voting rights ... The question now is, who is the real Judge Roberts?"
The same documents "certainly raise some questions in my mind about his commitment" to civil rights in general, Kennedy told reporters Thursday.
Some of Kennedy's Democratic colleagues are praising Roberts' academic and legal credentials. They expect little negative material to turn up before the start of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for the 50-year-old federal appeals court judge.
"I was so pleased to meet such an outstanding nominee," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. Added Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.: "I don't see anything that's going to be disturbing" in his record.
Nelson, who is leaning toward approving Roberts' nomination, said Roberts assured him on Thursday that he would not bring an activist philosophy to the court if he is confirmed to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
"He said he would not be an activist judge," Nelson said.
Roberts turned aside questions from reporters as he continued get-acquainted meetings with senators of both parties. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to answer questions outside of the Judiciary Committee," he said.
Kennedy is likely to put civil rights questions to Roberts at the committee hearings.
The senator was asked whether documents released by the White House showed Roberts was not as committed to civil rights as Kennedy would like. "I didn't reach that conclusion yet. But it does certainly raise some questions in my mind about his commitment," Kennedy said.
In one document, Roberts, then working in the White House, wrote that legislation designed to overturn a different Supreme Court ruling would "radically expand the civil rights laws to areas never before considered covered." He recommended against it.
In another, he wrote that the administration could "go slowly on housing legislation" without fearing political damage.
Democrats are demanding other paperwork from Roberts' time as principal deputy solicitor general during the administration of the first President Bush.
But the White House plans to deny access to those papers, citing the need "to preserve the attorney-client privilege for this administration" and in the future, according to presidential spokesman Scott McClellan.
The White House has released documents from Roberts' time as a special assistant at the Justice Department early in the Reagan administration. Officials have pledged to expedite release of records while Roberts was working in the White House counsel's office from 1983 to 1986.
Democrats are trying to come up with a limited request on the blocked documents. Kennedy said they would request documents "limited and targeted on cases related to the Constitution."
Officials also are in the final stages of negotiating a timetable and a format for Roberts' confirmation hearing. The White House and Senate Republicans are demanding a final confirmation vote before the Supreme Court convenes for its new term on Oct. 3.
Senators seemed to be heading toward starting the hearings on Sept. 6, even though the committee chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter, has indicated he could begin by Aug. 29.
Waiting until September would preserve the full August vacation lawmakers have planned. It also would pressure Democrats to allow a final vote by Sept. 29, the last business day before the court convenes.
WTF? Isn't he modeling shampoo now? Edawrds, STFU!
Can of hair spray?
Interesting that nobody every went after Attorney Edwards pro bono work or even ATTORNEY KERYY's pro-bono works.
To help prevent multiple posts, please do not change titles.
"John Edwards harshly criticized nominee John Roberts Friday, calling him "a partisan for conservative causes."
Assailed?
harshly criticized?
Who writes this copy?
Not only is it probably accurate, anyone would be hard pressed to name anyone inside the beltway who is NOT partisan.
Edwards is cute when he throws a hissy-fit. LOL
Ok.
Thanks for changing the title.
He's channeling the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt now, after "consulting" with Hillary on the best method to do so.
LMAO!!! That video of the Breck girl is priceless!!
Wasn't there a failed Senator and VP candidate named Edwards?
The left are such a bunch of phony charlatans...what a wimp and spouting the Dem talking points....
Hey silk pony... do not you have some ambulance chasing to do?
Was there anything to go after?
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