Has a new twist has emerged in the nomination of John Roberts as Supreme Court Justice?
Does it mean there storm clouds on Robert’s confirmation horizon? Or maybe a tiny cloud or two? Is this the kind of issue that (a)the vast majority of Americans will care about, (b)will derail his so-far-so-good prospects to sail through confirmation? YOU decide (although we may try to sway you with our pithy comments):
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly said that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society, but his name appears in the influential, conservative legal organization’s 1997-1998 leadership directory.
Oh.
Having served only two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after a long career as a government and private-sector lawyer, Roberts has not amassed much of a public paper record that would show his judicial philosophy. Working with the Federalist Society would provide some clue of his sympathies. The organization keeps its membership rolls secret, but many key policymakers in the Bush administration are acknowledged current or former members.
Roberts has burnished his legal image carefully. When news organizations have reported his membership in the society, he or others speaking on his behalf have sought corrections. Last week, the White House told news organizations that had reported his membership in the group that he had no memory of belonging. The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Associated Press printed corrections.
Over the weekend, The Post obtained a copy of the Federalist Society Lawyers’ Division Leadership Directory, 1997-1998. It lists Roberts, then a partner at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, as a member of the steering committee of the organization’s Washington chapter and includes his firm’s address and telephone number.
Man, this is a breathless investigative piece. It reads as if it is a new Watergate or Rovegate scandal revelation. Has yours truly missed something? Let’s read more:
Yesterday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Roberts “has no recollection of being a member of the Federalist Society, or its steering committee.” Roberts has acknowledged taking part in some Federalist Society activities, Perino said.
The Federalist Society was founded in 1982 by conservatives who disagreed with what they saw as a leftist tilt in the nation’s law schools. The group sponsors legal symposia and similar activities and serves as a network for rising conservative lawyers.
In conservative circles, membership in or association with the society has become a badge of ideological and political reliability. Roberts’s membership was routinely reported by news organizations in the context of his work in two GOP administrations and legal assistance to the party during the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida.
But the society’s alignment with conservative GOP politics and public policy makes Roberts’s relationship with the organization a potentially sensitive point for his confirmation process because many Democrats regard the organization with suspicion.
Yesterday, a liberal organization that has been skeptical of Roberts’s nomination said that the White House’s description of his relationship with the society showed the need to take a close look at his background.
So let me get this straight:
- We all know Roberts is a staunch conservative.
- He belonged to a conservative group.
- Democrats don’t like this conservative group.
- He can’t remember being a member of the group.
Well, then:
- What’s the big deal that he belonged to a conservative group?
- What’s the big surprise that he would belong to it?
- His only problem is in saying he can’t remember so the issue would then be who actually joined it, etc. If he’s as sharp and good a lawyer as they say he is, why can’t he remember being on the group’s steering committee? Does he have a twin somewhere? Is it (apologies to Bill O’Reilly) The Memory Factor or the Pinnochio Factor? Inquiring minds (mostly in the media and on blogs want to know).
But in the end, who really cares except those who are looking for any reason to oppose him simply because he is a conservative. And Bush — re-read this sentence repeatedly Ralph Nader voters and Ralph Nader supporters who said there was no difference between the two parties — made it very clear in both of his campaigns he was going to appoint conservative judges. On his court appointment Bush cannot be faulted for not doing what he articulated in his campaign. You have to wonder sometimes who some Democrats expected Bush to name: Mario Cuomo?
So Roberts belonged to a conservative group? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. He can’t remember? A political stumble (or a sign he may be a lawyer whose nose is going to grow or maybe a need to get checked for Alzheimer’s). But not a fatal error.
PS: To info-outlets everywhere: this is really NOT a slow news summer with the London bombings, etc. This kind of “scandal” really ain’t.
UPDATE: In the interests of disclosure, TMV PROUDLY admits to belonging to THIS GROUP.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.