CINCINATTI, September 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pat Trueman, senior legal counsel for the Family Research Council, commented on the confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts, nominee for US Supreme Court Chief Justice, saying that, “John Roberts is doing so well, he’s disarmed the opposition.”
“On abortion, they’ve tried six ways from Sunday to get him to tip his hand,” Trueman explained, in an interview with Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink magazine. “You’d think this was a confirmation hearing for the next executive director of NARAL. But this is what primarily concerns Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.”
“But John Roberts won’t give an inch,” Trueman added. Trueman explained Judge Roberts’ responses to questions regarding the right to privacy: “And his characterization of the right to privacy, on which the Roe v. Wade abortion decision hangs, is very limited. What Roberts said about the right to privacy is that he will recognize a marital right to privacy. Well, we know that what the Supreme Court has recognized in abortion is not a marital right, but a right between a woman and her physician. John Roberts is limiting that right in his characterization of the right to privacy before the committee.”
“Those who supported the Supreme Court’s decision on sodomy — where the court said there is a right to privacy between two homosexuals to engage in sodomy have to wonder – John Roberts is describing the right to privacy as something that certainly would not encompass the ‘right’ to sodomy.”
“So I think people should be heartened by the limited characterization Roberts is giving to this right to privacy – this right the Supreme Court uses to strike down moral laws like laws against sodomy, or abortion.”
In related news, the Cincinnati-based Life Issues Institute said they “strongly support” the nomination and confirmation of Judge John Roberts as Chief Justice to the US Supreme Court.
“Judge Roberts has clearly demonstrated a solid commitment to the Rule of Law,” said Dr. John Willke, M.D., president of Life Issues Institute. “During the hearings, he has properly avoided any appearance of ‘campaigning’ or making promises to secure the position of Chief Justice by giving Senator Biden and others assurances on how he would decide particular cases that are likely to come before him on the Federal Appeals Court or before the Supreme Court, to which he has been nominated.”
“In the face of considerable pressure from some members of the Judiciary Committee, Judge Roberts’ answers have demonstrated that he has the intellect, independence and demeanor for this nation’s highest court,” Dr. Willke continued. “The confidence of President Bush and the American people will be well served if Judge Roberts is confirmed.”
And at one point in the hearings – one described by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins as “heartening”– Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Judge Roberts if he would live up to his predecessor’s record. “John Roberts admitted as Chief Justice he would not be a ‘dramatic departure’ from Chief Justice Rehnquist,” Perkins wrote. “If true that is quite an honorable legacy to uphold.”
Concerned Women for America commented on today’s hearings: “The tone of the Democratic senators in this morning’s hearing is a much softer one, which indicates they’ve seen the handwriting on the wall,” said Jan LaRue, CWA’s Chief Counsel. “They’re realizing they can’t justify opposing him in light of the high praise Judge Roberts is continuing to receive across the board for his exceptional performance. If they do, they’ll have zero credibility when it comes to opposing the next nominee.”
CitizenLink concluded their interview with Pat Trueman: “So, bottom line, you think Roberts has won the day?” Trueman responded: “Hands down he gets confirmed.”
Townhall.com commentator Cal Thomas weighed in on the Roberts confirmation with the following astute conclusion: “Few doubt Roberts will be confirmed, but he is the undercard,” he wrote. “The main event will come should President Bush nominate someone as, or more conservative, than Roberts for the remaining Supreme Court vacancy.”
That is expected to be an even bigger test of George Bush’s commitment to restore the court to what the founders of the Republic intended, instead of the dangerously unaccountable, activist institution it has become in recent decades.
See Wednesday’s LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Roberts Responds to Senate Questions on Roe, Euthanasia
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/sep/05091403.html
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