David Rodeback's Blog

Monday, September 12, 2005

The John Roberts Inquisition, Plus Good Stuff to Read

Today begins the show trial (officially, the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings) of John Roberts, though, as these things go, we probably won't hear much from the defendant (officially, the nominee) on the first day. Presumably, every massive ego on the committee will have to make a long opening statement. (It is not likely that there is any other size of ego on the Committee.) The prevailing wisdom is that this confirmation process will be relatively tame, at least in comparison to the next one. Replacing the late Chief Justice Renquist with John Roberts would simply be trading one conservative for another, and probably will not change the balance on the court. The next one, in which President Bush will presumably attempt to replace moderate Justice O'Connor with an as yet unnamed conservative justice, might in some ways resemble World War III - or so says John Hinderaker, who certainly is not alone in that sentiment. (See also Robert Novak.)

While we're on the subject of judicial nominations, there's an Associated Press story out (only mentioned here but actually used by numerous newspapers) about a speech in Orange County, California, by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The story itself has some flaws, at least in the incarnations I've read, but this quotation from the Justice is interesting: "Now the Senate is looking for moderate judges, mainstream judges. What in the world is a moderate interpretation of a constitutional text? Halfway between what it says and what we'd like it to say?"

Here are some good current readings on themes that recur in this blog:

• Don't miss Jack Kelly on the federal response to Katrina. He tells a far different story than most of the Big Media Acronyms.
• On Katrina and the larger subject of poverty (which is more than a lack of money), Noam Scheiber in The New Republic and Jonah Goldberg in the Jewish World Review.
• For some of the positive stories in Katrina's aftermath, see Leonard Pitts, Jr., Paul Greenberg, and Mona Charen.
• On corrupting the language for political advantage, see Paul Greenberg and Mark Steyn.

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