Roberts Helped to Rebut Rights Criticism
Yahoo! News
By Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer
Tue, Aug 2, 2005
WASHINGTON - As a government lawyer in the 1980s, John Roberts helped coordinate efforts aimed at rebutting criticism that the Reagan administration Justice Department was hostile to civil rights, according to documents released Tuesday.
The Supreme Court nominee was just 26 when he began serving as special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith in 1981. The 350 pages of documents from the National Archives show a confident attorney who sought to assuage critics and promote the department's conservative agenda.
In a Sept. 15, 1982, memo, Roberts offered guidance to the attorney general in advance of a meeting with Clarence Pendleton, Reagan's newly appointed chairman of the Civil Rights Commission.
Roberts cautioned that Pendleton could bring up controversial social topics including the Justice Department's support for a restricted view of Title IX sex discrimination lawsuits as well as a push by some leaders to hold a national summit on civil rights. Roberts then advised Smith to sidestep possible controversies.
"If Pendleton brings it up, you should indicate that you favor increased dialogue — and have met with many civil rights leaders yourself — but do not commit to supporting a 'summit,'" Roberts wrote.
As to the department's Title IX decision, Roberts counseled Smith to say that the lower court's restrictions were persuasive but emphasize "you did not participate in the case because of your University of California ties."
The documents, posted on the National Archives' Web site, come as Senate Democrats are seeking release of thousands of pages of records from when Roberts served as a top deputy in the solicitor general's office from October 1989 to January 1993.
In particular, Democrats and interest groups want to see his writings on 16 cases involving hot-button issues such as school desegregation, abortion, the death penalty and school prayer.
This week, IndependentCourt.org, a liberal coalition of 75 organizations including the Alliance for Justice and People for the American Way, purchased its first television ads calling on the White House to stop "withholding important documents from senators."
The groups also are blitzing Internet sites and going door-to-door in states whose senators are up for re-election in 2006 to build public support for the Senate to take a close look at Roberts, who has served just two years on a federal appeals court.
Confirmation hearings begin Sept. 6.
The White House already has released thousands of pages of documents from Roberts' tenure in the White House counsel's office in the mid-1980s, as well as his files when working under Smith. The additional 350 pages were materials the Archives subsequently found in Smith's files that pertained to Roberts.
The documents show that Roberts participated in Justice Department meetings to discuss a "coordinated effort to communicate the department's civil rights record and dispel the impression created by our critics that the department has 'turned back the clock.'"
He often provided talking points to the attorney general or drafted unsigned newspaper op-ed pieces.
"We continue to bring actions to guard against impermissible discrimination. The average citizen, however, is no longer burdened by intrusive remedies," Roberts wrote on May 6, 1982. "We no longer demand busing, so disruptive to the education of our children, or quotas, which have been so divisive in the work force."
Many are eager to hear Roberts' beliefs about abortion. While none of the documents provides insight on his personal leanings, they do show him to be a cheerleader for Smith's policies on the issue.
In a Dec. 11, 1981, memo to the attorney general, Roberts noted that former Harvard law dean Erwin Griswold had given a recent speech that was consistent with Smith's "policymaking themes" which criticized the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
Griswold "devotes a section to the so-called 'right to privacy,' arguing as we have that such an amorphous right is not to be found in the Constitution. He specifically criticizes Roe v. Wade," Roberts wrote.
"You were quite right that I would find a 'measure of resonance' in your lecture," Roberts later drafted in a letter to Griswold signed by Smith.
Criticism of the Justice Department's policies didn't always come from the left. In a Jan. 27, 1982, memo, Roberts offered advice on how to respond to conservative attacks that the department had deferred to the National Organization for Women in some court cases and that "holdovers" from the Carter administration were frustrating conservative policy.
He wrote that Smith should emphasize the department's success in limiting busing and "affirmative action quotas" and its push for a limited federal court role in deciding major social issues of the day.
This is the "first serious effort to do something about what conservatives have been saying about the courts," Roberts wrote.
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On the Net:
Copies of the documents can be found at:
http://www.archives.gov/news/john-roberts/
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