Northern Valley Beacon
Information, observations, and analysis from the James River valley on the Northern Plains----- E-Mail: Enter 'Beacon' in subject box. Send to: Minnekota@Referencedesk.orgThursday, September 08, 2005
John Roberts' record on civil rights creates stormy times in the Beltway
While the mop-up from Katrina continues to reveal lives lost and opportunties wasted, the U.S. Senate and the Whitehouse are having stormy sessions about the record of nominee John G. Roberts, Jr., on civil rights.
In 1990, the Federal Communications Commission asked the first Bush administration to defend a policy aimed at encouraging more minority ownership of broadcast stations. As the number two man in the solicitor general's office, John G. Roberts Jr. played a critical role in the government's decision to reject the request, according to documents that came to light yesterday.
The case was one of hundreds that Roberts, President Bush's pick to become chief justice of the United States, handled during his tenure from 1989 to 1993 as principal deputy solicitor general. It is also one of 16 cases that Democrats
are demanding to learn more about as they prepare for next week's confirmation hearings, a request they renewed yesterday.
The documents offer a rare glimpse into a time in Roberts's life that has remained largely shrouded, on an issue that is likely to be central to next week's hearings: Roberts's civil rights record.
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