You know all of that stuff about John Roberts being a rabid right-winger and a Scalia clone?
Stick this in your pipe and smoke it: He was instrumental in the victory of a major gay rights case in 1996, Romer v. Colorado. As reported in today's L.A. Times (in an article available here) Roberts did pro bono work on behalf of the plaintiffs in that case, which resulting in a ruling vacating the results an anti-gay rights initiative in Colorado. Says the lead attorney from that argument, "John Roberts ... was just terrifically helpful in meeting with me and spending some time on the issue. He seemed to be very fair-minded and very astute."
Keep in mind that in a pro bono case, a lawyer is not working for a paying client or acting within the confines of his or her job. The pro bono cases litigated by a lawyer of Roberts's caliber are usually taken because the lawyer has some philosophical allegiance to the outcome.
Note: I didn't lift this from Daily Kos, but reading the Kos post reconfirms my gripe that the laypeople opposing Roberts are totally ignorant about the legal profession.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
What I find incredibly amusing through this whole thing is the whole "Are you now or were you ever a member of the Federalist Society?" thing, which is only sticking around in the news because he, strangely, keeps evading the question.
Why this amuses me is that what will be damaging to his chances is having NOT been in the Fed Society.
Say he was...well, of course he was! What did you expect. Everyone on the left has long since come to terms with the reality that any Supreme that Bush appoints would be a Fed society type. It would do exactly zero damage to his chances.
However, if he was, in fact, NOT in the Federalist Society...can you imagine the collective lid flipping that would be going on on the right? I'm talking a Class-Five case of the crazies. Dobson and Falwell may march on Washington with torches and pitchforks.
That's what I find funny...
The Federalist Society is like the A.V. club of lawyers. Anybody can get in and they don't really do anything. Lesbian feminists join it in law school just to have something on their clerkship applications.
I mean, I know people think he's full of shit and maybe he is -- but considering the number of speaking engagements and activities someone of his profile has, it's not that much of a stretch for him not to realize that he's a member. I forget half the groups I've signed up for myself.
Post a Comment