John Roberts and the Amazing Promotion

Posted on September 6, 2005

Well, that certainly didn't take long. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist isn't even buried yet and already President Bush has nominated someone to take his place as Chief Justice: John Roberts. Roberts was nominated as an Associate Justice to take the place of Sandra Day O'Connor, but somehow Bush pulled the old switcheroo on the Senate and now Roberts is up for the big job. O'Connor will stay in her position until Bush nominates and gets confirmed an as yet unamed candidate.

So why did he do it? Most pundits have been quiet so far: clearly everyone's heads are simply reeling from the bizarro twist. Roberts is only 50 (In SCOTUS terms, he's barely out of his teens). Antonin Scalia has been actively campaigning for the position. Clarence Thomas is just dying to put those gold stripes on his robes. But Bush nominates this young whippersnapper to boss them all around? 80 year old Justice Stevens can't be pleased either (not that he had a hope in hell of being nominated for the position by this administration).

Roberts has so many disturbing items in his past. His referring to the "so-called right of privacy" (the foundation for allowing unfettered access to birth control and for Roe vs. Wade) has to be the biggest red flag we've seen yet. But he's congenial. From all accounts he gets along with everyone. He's charming. (Like that's important in a Supreme Court justice.)

It seems that Bush is trying to steer the course of the Supreme Court's rulings for the next 40 years or so. The Roberts Court could rule for a long time. And based on what we've seen of his record so far, that could very well mean the rolling back of Roe vs. Wade, the right to privacy, and a host of civil rights protections.

The optimistic moderates are hoping that he'll turn out to be another Souter. But somehow, it just doesn't seem likely.