Who is John Roberts?
Is the Bush Administration
Trying to Hide Something
About John Roberts?
Tell the Senate to Demand Full Disclosure!
The Bush Administration is attempting to head off growing calls for full disclosure of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' paper trail. Don't let them! Yesterday, the White House made a big production of "releasing" a handful of documents to the Senate--documents that were already public. They're hoping that this display will distract attention from the important documents they're refusing to disclose.
Between 1981 and 1993, the Reagan and George H. W. Bush Administrations made every effort to turn back the clock on civil rights laws protecting women, minorities, people with disabilities, and older Americans. The documents we do have access to, which are only complete for the years between '81 and '82, give us reason to believe that Roberts may have been an integral part of these comprehensive attempts to undermine the civil rights enforcement policies of previous Republican and Democratic administrations. The American people have a right to know the full extent of his involvement with these endeavors. And the Senate must have access to all relevant documents from this entire period in order to determine whether Judge Roberts can be trusted to guard Americans' rights and liberties if confirmed.
Tell your Senators not to let the President stonewall!
http://Petition.SaveTheCourt.org
Since President Bush nominated Judge Roberts last week, People For the American Way activists and their allies have been working tirelessly to ensure that the Senate conducts a thorough evaluation of the nominee. The 80,000 emails from PFAW members that began to flood Senate offices minutes after the President's announcement helped convince a majority of Senators to respect the confirmation process by withholding judgment on Judge Roberts' nomination until all the facts were in.
If the Bush Administration gets its way, these Senators may never see the information they need to properly evaluate Judge Roberts. The White House has already declared that it intends to refuse to comply with document requests relating to Roberts' final post as part of the Reagan-Bush legal team, political deputy to Solicitor General Ken Starr. The Bush Administration also seems to be slow-rolling the release of the thousands of documents that they have decided to disclose in an apparent effort to deprive the Senate Judiciary Committee of adequate time to review them.
The available documents from the first two years of Roberts' Justice Department career are deeply troubling. Is there even more evidence that Roberts advocated for legal strategies to undermine the nation's civil rights laws in the documents they're trying to keep under wraps? As the Washington Post reported this morning, highlights of Roberts' career from 1981-1982 include:
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Memos advocating laws that would have stripped the Supreme Court of jurisdiction over some of the most important issues of our time, including civil rights, reproductive rights, and the separation of church and state. These documents suggest that his positions were even more radical than those ultimately adopted by the Reagan Justice Department.
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Writings in which he derides a report on the accomplishments of affirmative action, saying that an "affirmative action program required the recruiting of inadequately prepared candidates."
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Documents in which he argued for weakening the enforcement of laws prohibiting sex discrimination, including Title IX requirements that institutions receiving federal funds must not discriminate on the basis of gender.
If this is what the documents we do have access to reveal, we can only wonder what the documents the Bush Administration is trying to keep from the Senate contain.
Americans know very little about Judge John Roberts, and the facts available so far suggest that our rights and freedoms might be in serious jeopardy if he were to be confirmed to a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. In order to make an informed decision, Senators must receive the same kind of information they have been given during previous nominations, some of which the White House is currently withholding. Let your Senators know you expect them to stand up for their co-equal constitutional role in the confirmation process!
http://Petition.SaveTheCourt.org
--Your Allies at People For the American Way
Tell your Senators not to let the President stonewall!
http://Petition.SaveTheCourt.org
This petition allows you to track the signatures you help gather! When you sign this petition and forward it on to friends, you'll be able to watch your own impact grow throughout the nation as each of your friends sends it on to their friends - and those friends send it on again. Watch your own tidal wave of citizen activism roll across the land.
Support the Supreme Court Defense Fund!
http://www.SaveTheCourt.org/support
The Washington Post's story on the documents relating to John Roberts' activities at the Justice Department in 1981-1982 is available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602070.html
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