Click on the link and look at the picture, the guy looks exactly like Frank Burns of MASH TV fame.
Bush picks conservative for top courtJohn G. Roberts, 50, already under fireStage set for fiery confirmation fight
TIM HARPERWASHINGTON BUREAUWASHINGTON—George W. Bush sought to fundamentally reshape the United States Supreme Court last night, nominating rock-solid conservative John G. Roberts to serve on the nation's top court.
Roberts, 50, a U.S. Appeals Court judge in the District of Columbia, would replace Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a pragmatic swing voter who resigned earlier this month after 24 years on the bench.
The U.S. president's nominee has a deep Republican pedigree, but Bush may have set the stage for a tumultuous confirmation battle in the Senate because Roberts was under fire for his views on abortion even before he was introduced to a national prime time television audience.
Bush called his nominee one of the great legal minds of his generation and a man who will not legislate from the bench.
"John Roberts has devoted his entire professional life to the cause of justice," Bush said. "He is a man of extraordinary accomplishment and ability. He has a good heart."
Roberts addressed the country briefly, telling Americans he always had "a lump in my throat" as he walked up the marble steps of the Supreme Court to argue a case, something he has done 39 times.
There had been no vacancy on the court for 11 years, giving Bush the opportunity to carve a legacy in what could be the biggest domestic decision of his second term.
His conservative base appeared to be initially satisfied by the choice, but liberal groups wasted no time in trying to define Roberts as someone who does not respect basic U.S. freedoms.
The two sides have war chests brimming with millions of dollars they will spend in a media battle that is really over social issues, including abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, capital punishment and religious freedom, all certain to reach the high court in the near future.
Within minutes of media reports that Roberts had been chosen, NARAL Pro-Choice America had declared the battle for the Supreme Court underway, and had a form letter on its website ready to send to senators, asking he be defeated.
NARAL said if Roberts wins a lifetime appointment, he would work to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion.
Roberts co-wrote a brief, on behalf of president George H. W. Bush, saying the decision should be overruled and has no basis in the U.S. constitution.
However, during his 2003 confirmation hearings for the appellate court, he said he was representing the views of his client at the time.
"Roe vs. Wade is the settled law of the land," he said, "... there's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."
The conservative Heritage Foundation, however, praised Bush for making good on what the right considered a promise during the 2004 campaign to appoint in the mould of the most conservative justices.
"President Bush promised the American people that he would nominate Supreme Court justices who would not legislate from the bench and would be in the mould of Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia," said Edwin Meese III, chairperson of the foundation's centre for legal and judicial studies.
"He has fulfilled that promise ... with the selection of a judge of unquestionable integrity and proven fidelity to the constitution and the rule of law."
Bush called for a "dignified" confirmation process in the U.S. Senate and said he wants Roberts be on the bench when the Supreme Court reconvenes on the first Monday of October.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the judicial committee, said senators had the obligation to ensure the integrity of the court is not abused and that nominees are thoroughly vetted.
"No one is entitled to a free pass to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," he said.
Roberts is a Buffalo native and a Harvard law graduate who once clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, whose own stay on the bench may be nearing its end as he is 80 and battling cancer.
One of Roberts's last rulings on the appeals court was last week's decision to allow the Bush administration to resume war crime trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, overturning a lower court decision and ruling that the military commissions did not violate the U.S. constitution, international law or American military law.
Roberts was also a member of the law firm that worked on behalf of Bush in the disputed 2000 election against Democratic candidate Al Gore.
In tapping the young appeals court judge, Bush has the opportunity to shape the U.S. Supreme Court for generations to come, but he also ignored his wife Laura, who had publicly stated she would have preferred another woman to replace O'Connor.
When he was nominated to the appellate court in 2003 he drew support from both sides of the political spectrum, but Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, was one of those who opposed Roberts in committee.
"Now it's a whole new ball game for those who voted against him, those who voted for him, and for Judge Roberts," Schumer said.
Roberts has been on the appeals court, considered one rung below the Supreme Court, for a mere two years, but his lack of a long paper trail for scrutiny for supporters may be a nod to the defeat almost 20 years ago of Robert Bork, a Ronald Reagan pick who was rejected in the Senate after Democrats picked apart a long judicial record.
The lead-up to the announcement was a major test of White House discipline and the word of Bush's choice had not leaked during the day.
The first sign that the president had made his decision came Monday evening when Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter, chair of the judiciary committee, was pulled from a softball game on the National Mall and summoned to a White House meeting.
Bush picks conservative for top courtJohn G. Roberts, 50, already under fireStage set for fiery confirmation fight
TIM HARPERWASHINGTON BUREAUWASHINGTON—George W. Bush sought to fundamentally reshape the United States Supreme Court last night, nominating rock-solid conservative John G. Roberts to serve on the nation's top court.
Roberts, 50, a U.S. Appeals Court judge in the District of Columbia, would replace Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a pragmatic swing voter who resigned earlier this month after 24 years on the bench.
The U.S. president's nominee has a deep Republican pedigree, but Bush may have set the stage for a tumultuous confirmation battle in the Senate because Roberts was under fire for his views on abortion even before he was introduced to a national prime time television audience.
Bush called his nominee one of the great legal minds of his generation and a man who will not legislate from the bench.
"John Roberts has devoted his entire professional life to the cause of justice," Bush said. "He is a man of extraordinary accomplishment and ability. He has a good heart."
Roberts addressed the country briefly, telling Americans he always had "a lump in my throat" as he walked up the marble steps of the Supreme Court to argue a case, something he has done 39 times.
There had been no vacancy on the court for 11 years, giving Bush the opportunity to carve a legacy in what could be the biggest domestic decision of his second term.
His conservative base appeared to be initially satisfied by the choice, but liberal groups wasted no time in trying to define Roberts as someone who does not respect basic U.S. freedoms.
The two sides have war chests brimming with millions of dollars they will spend in a media battle that is really over social issues, including abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, capital punishment and religious freedom, all certain to reach the high court in the near future.
Within minutes of media reports that Roberts had been chosen, NARAL Pro-Choice America had declared the battle for the Supreme Court underway, and had a form letter on its website ready to send to senators, asking he be defeated.
NARAL said if Roberts wins a lifetime appointment, he would work to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion.
Roberts co-wrote a brief, on behalf of president George H. W. Bush, saying the decision should be overruled and has no basis in the U.S. constitution.
However, during his 2003 confirmation hearings for the appellate court, he said he was representing the views of his client at the time.
"Roe vs. Wade is the settled law of the land," he said, "... there's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."
The conservative Heritage Foundation, however, praised Bush for making good on what the right considered a promise during the 2004 campaign to appoint in the mould of the most conservative justices.
"President Bush promised the American people that he would nominate Supreme Court justices who would not legislate from the bench and would be in the mould of Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia," said Edwin Meese III, chairperson of the foundation's centre for legal and judicial studies.
"He has fulfilled that promise ... with the selection of a judge of unquestionable integrity and proven fidelity to the constitution and the rule of law."
Bush called for a "dignified" confirmation process in the U.S. Senate and said he wants Roberts be on the bench when the Supreme Court reconvenes on the first Monday of October.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the judicial committee, said senators had the obligation to ensure the integrity of the court is not abused and that nominees are thoroughly vetted.
"No one is entitled to a free pass to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," he said.
Roberts is a Buffalo native and a Harvard law graduate who once clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, whose own stay on the bench may be nearing its end as he is 80 and battling cancer.
One of Roberts's last rulings on the appeals court was last week's decision to allow the Bush administration to resume war crime trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, overturning a lower court decision and ruling that the military commissions did not violate the U.S. constitution, international law or American military law.
Roberts was also a member of the law firm that worked on behalf of Bush in the disputed 2000 election against Democratic candidate Al Gore.
In tapping the young appeals court judge, Bush has the opportunity to shape the U.S. Supreme Court for generations to come, but he also ignored his wife Laura, who had publicly stated she would have preferred another woman to replace O'Connor.
When he was nominated to the appellate court in 2003 he drew support from both sides of the political spectrum, but Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, was one of those who opposed Roberts in committee.
"Now it's a whole new ball game for those who voted against him, those who voted for him, and for Judge Roberts," Schumer said.
Roberts has been on the appeals court, considered one rung below the Supreme Court, for a mere two years, but his lack of a long paper trail for scrutiny for supporters may be a nod to the defeat almost 20 years ago of Robert Bork, a Ronald Reagan pick who was rejected in the Senate after Democrats picked apart a long judicial record.
The lead-up to the announcement was a major test of White House discipline and the word of Bush's choice had not leaked during the day.
The first sign that the president had made his decision came Monday evening when Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter, chair of the judiciary committee, was pulled from a softball game on the National Mall and summoned to a White House meeting.
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