WINNING RÉSUMÉ Roberts satisfies Bush's conservative base without provoking rabid opposition

Since U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor resigned July 1, speculation has focused on who would be President Bush's first nominee to the high court. Would it be another woman or a Hispanic? Would it be a hard-line, "movement" conservative or a moderate, nonideological figure?

With Bush's nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr., the answer is known: none of the above.

Roberts, as one White House counsel put it, has credentials that jump off the page. No fictional, idealized résumé could be more glowing: top of his high school class and football team captain; graduation with honors from Harvard University and its law school; a clerkship with William Rehnquist, now chief justice of the United States; partnership in an established Washington law firm; undisputed brilliance as an appellate lawyer before the Supreme Court, where he won 64 percent of 39 cases argued.

Several historians and commentators have said the Supreme Court needs a politician rather than an academic or career jurist. Roberts comes closer to the first. He was a White House counsel under President Ronald Reagan and deputy solicitor general under the first President Bush.

Like many Bush appointees, Roberts has a family connection. He served in the administration of the elder President Bush, who first tried to place Roberts on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Roberts advised Republicans during the litigation that decided George W. Bush's victory in 2000.

Both critics and supporters describe Roberts' record of briefs and opinions as thin and enigmatic, but the thrust seems clear enough. Hardly surprising, Roberts' views dovetail with the policies of George W. Bush.

Roberts ruled that the Constitution does not require police to act sensibly at all times, leaving officers free to arrest and cuff a child who eats a forbidden french fry on the subway. Roberts agreed that the administration could use military tribunals to try suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

Conservative supporters say Roberts is reluctant to write new law, all the while hoping he will vote to overturn the settled law regarding abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade.

Within the bounds of civility, these topics will be fair game when Roberts is questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee. For some Americans, the hearings given Supreme Court nominees are their best exposure to constitutional history and law.

In addition to his credentials, Roberts has arithmetic on his side. The Senate contains 55 Republicans, and Roberts' solid record is likely to attract at least five conservative Democrats, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. If President Bush intended to satisfy his conservative base without provoking a Democratic filibuster, he probably could not have made a better choice than Roberts.

Ann Coulter has made a grave long-term error in bashing Judge Roberts. He's solid. His opinions in future years will continue his conservative career, and she will have been the one who dissed him.

If Roberts really does turn out to be another Scalia or Thomas, I'm sure Ann Coulter will be first in line to praise him when his rulings start coming in. However, I don't hear too many people saying Roberts is another Scalia or Thomas, which I'm sure infuriates Coulter with the GOP controlling both the White House and the Senate.

Don Imus is much better than Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Diane Sawyer, Charles Gibson, Ted Koppel, Peter Jennings, etc.

However, if I had to "nominate" a media personality to an important position, I'd go with Brit Hume because he has a long and proven conservative track record of covering stories that most liberal media types never want to touch. I'd be comfortable with Brit Hume. I'd know who I was getting. I wish I could say the same about Roberts, although I'm optimistic that he's at least as conservative as the justice he'll be replacing.

Remember this?

The Boston Herald, March 23, 1996

Shock-jock shocks prez, Hillary

By DAVID TALBOT

Steamed that Don Imus called President Clinton a "pot-smoking weasel" and
made off-color jokes about the first family, the White House asked C-Span
yesterday not to re-broadcast a journalists' roast attended by a grimacing
Bill and Hillary Clinton.

But C-Span said it will air its tape of the Thursday night event tonight as
planned, complete with the veteran New York City disc jockey's routine.

"This was a public event with 3,000 journalists in the room as well as many
public figures," C-Span said in a statement.

Imus, morning jokeman at WFAN-AM radio in New York, alluded to Clinton's
alleged sexual exploits, the first lady's alleged financial peccadillos and
the homosexuality of House Speaker Newt Gingrich's half-sister, who Imus
winkingly called a "thespian."

Imus, whose show is also broadcast on WEEI-AM in Boston, took this dig at
first brother Roger Clinton: "In the past three years, Socks the cat has
been in more jams than Roger. Roger has been a saint, the cat has peed on
national treasures. Socks has thrown up hairballs, Roger hasn't. Socks got
his girlfriend pregnant and - no, that was Roger."

Imus recalled the president's remarks when he helped broadcast the baseball
game in which Cal Ripkin broke Lou Gehrig's record of consecutive games played.

"We all heard the president in his obvious excitement holler 'Go baby!' I
remember commenting at the time, 'I bet that's not the first time that he
said that - remember the Astroturf in the pickup?' " Imus said, referring
to Clinton's remark that as a young man he lined his pickup with fake grass.

Some of the insults came in the context of roasting the journalists
themselves, who he joked were inclined to address the president as
"pot-smoking weasel."

The audience members laughed heartily, but Clinton grimaced during the
routine, and Hillary Clinton could be seen blushing.

Imus said Hillary's book, "It Takes a Village," should have listed the
author as anonymous - like Primary Colors. And he said N.Y. Sen Alfonse
D'Amato's book should have been titled: "It takes a village idiot."

Yesterday, Clinton's press secretary, Mike McCurry, called C-Span to ask
that the Imus performance Thursday night at the Radio and Television
Correspondents Association's 52nd annual dinner not be replayed.

"I personally believe a large part of that entertainment, if that's what we
call it, offered last night was fairly tasteless," he said.

Joel Hollander, general manager at WFAN, told the Herald the White House
was seeking "censorship."

"Humor is subjective, like vanilla and chocolate. Our position is they knew
what he was about when the entertainment committee invited them up there to
perform," Hollander said. "There really shouldn't be any surprises."

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