John Roberts opposes the right to choose - and if he is confirmed to the Supreme Court a woman's right to choose will be seriously threatened.
By nominating John Roberts, President Bush has chosen a nominee who advocated overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that guarantees a woman's right to choose. Roberts argued to the Supreme Court that Roe was "wrongly decided and should be overruled."
Roberts argued in support of the violent clinic protesters at Operation Rescue who have tried to block women's access to basic health care services with bombs and threats of murder. Now Operation Rescue have returned the favor by supporting his confirmation. I don't think someone who would defend that behavior belongs on the Supreme Court.
The Bush administration owes it to the American public to disclose all relevant information about John Roberts, including his taxes, records from his job as Deputy Solicitor General, and the radical right's role in his selection.
President Bush is obligated to share with the American people as much information about John Roberts as he has with anti-choice radical rights groups that have been assured that Roberts shares their values. The Bush administration should follow precedent by releasing Roberts' tax records along with his records as Deputy Solicitor General under the first President Bush. John Roberts owes the American people the same degree of candor as he does his friends on the radical right -- whatever he's telling them that satisfies their concerns should be part of his public testimony.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez has admitted that there is no relevance to Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' 2003 statement that he would apply Roe v. Wade as settled law. In an interview with the Associated Press, Gonzalez said that, "If you're a Supreme Court justice, that's a different question because a Supreme Court justice is not obliged to follow precedent if you believe it's wrong."
Far-right groups have been assured of Roberts' ideology and they fully support his nomination.
Far right leaders are confident that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts would turn back the clock on Roe and vote to eliminate the need for a health exception. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the powerful Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Times that Roe v. Wade, the cornerstone of women's reproductive rights, will face a direct challenge in the upcoming Supreme Court term. As he told the Washington Times, "…whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned is not only an issue likely to come before the court during Judge Roberts' tenure, it is already before the court."
The number of anti-choice organizations that fully back Roberts' nomination and have publicly stated their confidence in how he would rule on Roe v. Wade is alarming. Among the right-wing organizations that back him are Operation Rescue, Focus on the Family, Traditional Values Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Pro-Life Action League, Heritage Foundation, and the Culture of Life Foundation, just to name a few.
Operation Rescue has stated that,"Roberts has shown strong conservative credentials with indications that he will not uphold Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that decriminalized abortion."
© 2005 NARAL Pro-Choice America
