More Good News About John Roberts
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Good Decisions, Supreme CourtSay what you will about what he “might” do, but now I come to find out that John Roberts fought for gay rights:
WASHINGTON â€â€? Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. worked behind the scenes for gay rights activists, and his legal expertise helped them persuade the Supreme Court to issue a landmark 1996 ruling protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation.Then a lawyer specializing in appellate work, the conservative Roberts helped represent the gay rights activists as part of his law firm’s pro bono work. He did not write the legal briefs or argue the case before the high court, but he was instrumental in reviewing filings and preparing oral arguments, according to several lawyers intimately involved in the case.
So does this make him an saint? Absolutely not. But it does support the buzz that Roberts’ does the right thing, regardless of his feelings about it:
There is no other record of Roberts being involved in gay rights cases that would suggest his position on such issues. He has stressed, however, that a client’s views are not necessarily shared by the lawyer who argues on his or her behalf.The lawyer who asked for Roberts’ help on the case, Walter A. Smith Jr., then head of the pro bono department at Hogan & Hartson, said Roberts didn’t hesitate. “He said, ‘Let’s do it.’ And it’s illustrative of his open-mindedness, his fair-mindedness. He did a brilliant job.”
Very good stuff to read. I’m liking this guy more and more.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 4th, 2005 and is filed under Good Decisions, Supreme Court. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 5th, 2005 at 1:03 pm
Very good to know. I’m discovering a number of Repubs lately I’m liking more and more. The more I hear about Robers, I like him (besides the fact that I had a crush on a John Roberts in HS ;) ), and Maine’s Olympia Snow is showing she’s not just going with the Repub Lemmings. Good for them!
August 7th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
[...] The left was trying to drive a wedge? Now, I can only speak for myself, but I was very happy to hear that Roberts helped out on an important civil rights issue that he may have not agreed with. That’s why I blogged about it. [...]
August 15th, 2005 at 11:18 pm
[...] I’ve said in the past (here, here and here) that Roberts seems like the type of conservative judge who we can all live with, and news like this makes me think that we could be getting a very reasonable Supreme Court Justice. [...]
December 3rd, 2005 at 1:10 pm
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