The Sanford Project

Earlier, I speculated that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts is very likely a douchebag. At the time, few people knew anything about Roberts, but I figured it was a safe guess given that W only nominates douchebags. Since then, additional information has been released providing insight into exactly what kind of douchebag John Roberts is.

The general consensus is that, ideologically, Roberts is no Sandra Day O'Connor. He's the new Rehnquist. During his time on the White House counsel's staff from 1982 to 1986, Roberts consistently advocated for the more conservative side of issues, and sometimes took "positions even more conservative than those of his prominent superiors." During this period, Roberts advocated for:

• less government enforcement of civil rights laws rather than more
• restricting application of the Voting Rights Act
• eliminating the wall between church and state
• limiting the role of the courts while enhancing the president's powers
• eliminating the ability of state prisoners to have their claims heard in federal court

He also exposed his frighteningly ignorant understanding of affirmative action, writing that affirmative action programs were bound to fail because they required "the recruiting of inadequately prepared candidates." Affirmative action programs require no such thing. As the National Organization of Women explains, "under the law as written in Executive Orders and interpreted by the courts, anyone benefitting from affirmative action must have relevant and valid job or educational qualifications."

Frighteningly, the White House is refusing to release a number of other important sets of documents, including Roberts’ tax returns and relevant papers from his tenure as deputy solicitor general under the first President Bush. Sure, we don't know that the White House is covering up anything bad by witholding thise papers, but it certainly raises the question as to what exactly they're trying to hide.

Outside his ideology, Roberts has proven himself a liar. Here he is claiming not to remember whether or not he was a member of the ultra-conservative Federalist Society, even though he's listed as a member of the steering committee of the organization's Washington chapter in the 97-98 directory. And here he is, lying to Coretta Scott King.

But what really makes him a primo douchebag in my book, is that he was an accomplice to the theft of the 2000 election. Miami Herald reporter Marc Caputo learned from Ted Cruz, a policy advisor to the Bush election campaign in 2000, and now the Texas solicitor general, that:

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.

[...]

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.

In short, Roberts went down on his own dime to make sure that the votes in Florida would not be counted, and that the election for president would be decided by the courts. Later analysis showed that a full state-wide vote count would have resulted in a win for Al Gore. But John Roberts evidently thinks democracy is too good for Florida's citizens.

Unfortunately, all this complaining is really good for nothing. Because our good-for-nothing Democrats in Congress are going to approve the nomination with little fight. Apparently being a right-wing ideologue, liar, hater of democracy, and all-around douchebag are no longer disqualifying characteristics to get onto the Supreme Court.