"Why would Judge John G. Roberts lie...."

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"about being a member of the Federalist Society (FS)?"

"FS became a network, or a self-described "cabal," for right-wing law clerks, judges, lawyers and was funded generously by far-right foundations like Richard Mellon Scaife, Koch, Olin, and Bradley. The main goal of the organization was to pressure justices to adopt right-wing positions in their decisions, to create endowments for right-wing university professors, organize conferences on a host of right-wing issues such as corporate deregulation, overturning civil rights, reproductive rights, and so on.

Prominent members of FS who served or currently serve in the Bush administration, include former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Interior Secretary Gale Norton, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, and current Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff. Newly appointed federal judge William Pryor and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia are also members.

None of these FS members could be said to favor upholding current Constitutional law. All of these people, in one area or another, have fought to overturn, undo, or eliminate federal protections for civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, privacy rights, the Constitutional separation of church and state, federal protections for the environment, safety and health regulations, and more.

Last November, FS hosted a conference to boost US imperialism and the Iraq war and voicing anti-UN views that included presentations by a number of Bush administration extremists, including John Bolton, John Negroponte, and Paula Dobriansky. Bolton especially denounced the International Criminal Court and critics of US unilateralism.

FS believes in changing the US legal system by promoting far-right legal positions and influencing who becomes judges, top government officials, and decision-makers. Many members of FS advocate a rollback of civil rights measures, reproductive choice, and generally support conservative morality being enshrined in federal and state laws. FS favors public school privatization."

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/1568/1/32/
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Funded generously by Richard Mellon Scaife, Koch, Olin...wouldn't you know it. :shrug:

[zbdent]

1. Yes, why would he lie? But he did.

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2. "Newsweek, Time Heart John Roberts"

By Eric Boehlert

"Fawning, glowing, congratulatory, adulatory, Sycophantic. Take your pick, the stories are so over the top they have to be read to be believed, with the only real question being should Fred Thompson—Roberts' WH-appointed handler--have received ghostwriting credit? I mean, how could Thompson possibly top Newsweek's almost comical portrait of Roberts as a too-good-to-be-true "centrist" who's "enormously self-confident" but "not arrogant or showy." An "unpretentious" "regular guy" with a "wicket wit" who "mows his own lawn." (Newsweek conveniently omits the name of the high school John "Regular Guy" Roberts attended; La Lumiere.) According to the weekly he's loyal to church, family, school and "most importantly" (wait for it…) "to the law."

The Time piece isn't quite so embarrassing, although editors there think nuggets that Roberts is ambidextrous on the racquet ball court and plays Candyland with his kids qualify as insight. The piece ends with the completely baseless speculation that liberals might come to love Roberts as a Supreme Court justice...."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/featuredposts.html#a004729

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3. "Roberts had larger 2000 recount role"

The role of U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in the 2000 election aftermath in Florida was larger than has been reported. Roberts helped prepare the Supreme Court case.

By MARC CAPUTO

[e-mail]

TALLAHASSEE - U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts played a broader behind-the-scenes role for the Republican camp in the aftermath of the 2000 election than previously reported -- as legal consultant, lawsuit editor and prep coach for arguments before the nation's highest court, according to the man who drafted him for the job.

Ted Cruz, a domestic policy advisor for President Bush and who is now Texas' solicitor general, said Roberts was one of the first names he thought of while he and another attorney drafted the Republican legal dream team of litigation ''lions'' and ''800-pound gorillas,'' which ultimately consisted of 400 attorneys in Florida.

Until now, Gov. Jeb Bush and others involved in the election dispute could recall almost nothing of Roberts' role, except for a half-hour meeting the governor had with Roberts. Cruz said Roberts was in Tallahassee helping the Bush camp for ''a week to 10 days,'' and that his help was important, though Cruz said it is difficult to remember specifics five years after the sleep-depriving frenetic pace of the 2000 recount.>snip<

>Soon after getting the call from Cruz, Roberts traveled from his Washington office at Hogan & Hartson to Tallahassee to lend advice and help polish legal briefs. Later, Roberts participated in a dress rehearsal to prepare the Bush legal team for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cruz's account is the first to place Roberts firmly within the Bush vs. Gore battle, filling in substantial blanks in the memories of everyone from Bush's campaign lawyer, Ben Ginsberg, to the governor.<
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12230971.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1657367

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4. "John Roberts and the Federalist Society" - Molly Ivins

July 27, 2005

"As Jay Leno notes, this is an important job -- these are the people who pick the president. Of course we're entitled to know what the man's public record is.
<>
The society is funded by millions of dollars from right-wing and libertarian foundations. It attempts to influence legal education and works with right-wing legal advocacy and litigation organizations.

Alfred Ross, of the Institute of Democracy Studies, explains that "through its own 15 practice groups, the society is busy developing new legal theories for every area of American jurisprudence, from civil rights law to national security law, international law, securities regulations law and so on. And if one goes through the publications of their practice groups, one can only gasp not only at the breadth of their agenda, but the extremism of their ideology."

The society has argued for the abolition of the Securities and Exchange Commission, severely limiting the Environmental Protection Agency, and rolling back gender equity laws (Title IX) and voting rights law. Its publications have criticized teaching evolution and attacked the principle of separation of church and state.

According to Ross, they recently launched a state judicial selection project to try to dominate the state, as well as federal, bench. This is all standard, ultra-right-wing claptrap. It's all about control."

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2005/1175