Politics

What Do They Know That We Don’t?

At first blush, the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court looks like a welcome development. All indications are that he is an originalist in his approach to constitutional interpretation—that is, he believes the constitution to have a fixed meaning grounded in the original intention of the framers.

Yet it also looks like Roberts fits the description of a so-called “establishment conservative”—meaning, he will show some degree of deference to the traditions of the high court. To this effect, Time magazine speculates:

“Roberts may agree in spirit with those who see the past 50 years of jurisprudence as too expansive and too intrusive but respect too much the way the law is shaped to ride in and blowtorch it. He may just prove willing to conserve even opinions he faults” (source).

So it may be that Judge Roberts is a judicial conservative. But does it not remain to be seen the extent to which he will be willing to overturn past precedent? This is precisely the concern raised by a handful of conservatives such as Fred Barnes and Ann Coulter, who are not certain that Roberts would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Nevertheless, a bevy of well-known religious conservatives have lauded the Roberts nomination (see article in CT). For example, both James Dobson and Tony Perkins have expressed their approval of this nominee.

My question is, what do they know that we don’t know? I am trying to understand how folks like Dobson and Perkins can be so certain that Roberts will prove to be a good pick. Is it not possible that Roberts could turn out to be an establishment conservative who is unwilling to overturn a precedent like Roe v. Wade?

My hope is that George Bush knows something that we don’t know. So far in every situation, the President has remained true to his promises. If he has remained true to his pledge to nominate conservative judges, then he must know something that the rest of us don’t.

2 Comments

  • Brett M.

    I hope you are right, that is, that the President and James Dobson and others know something we don’t. On my brief post on Roberts I suggested that one way to gage how conservative he will be is to look at how the political left reacts. I saw where Hillary Clinton recently stated that she won’t oppose him. That causes me to really wonder…

  • Barry

    Denny,
    Check out this week’s editorial by William Kristol in the Weekly Standard. He addresses your concern.

    luf,
    Barry

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