Hope for John Roberts

We may as well start calling him Justice Roberts now. Confirmation hearings haven't even begun yet, but he'll get through. There will be a lot of harrumphing and no real opposition. As a casual news reader, I have a hunch on this one. However, I'm not despairing (yet).

Here's my hope:

Maybe John Roberts isn't just the best Supreme Court nominee we could hope for from the Bush administration. Maybe he's the very best Supreme Court nomination we could hope for from the Bush Administration.

Here's why:

Democrats and Republicans honestly aren't too far from each other. They're both pro-business capitalist parties who tend to haggle over social policies and make a show of different places tiny slices of the national budget could go. Social stances are different, but they generally agree on how government should function in American society, if not the degree. The fact that they're at each others' throats so often speaks more to power hunger and tribalism than to substantive policy differences.

Also (brace yourselves if you must) I recognize that there are good reasons to fall on the Republican side of things, especially when you're thinking of Republicans in a more historic sense. Remember when Republicans were considered stewards of fiscal responsibility? It doesn't fit with cutting taxes, starting a war, and increasing domestic spending all at the same time, but still. Or what about Republicans as the party who wanted to keep government out of the private lives of citizens? That doesn't square with trying to pass legislation controlling abortion and other personal life decisions, but still. At one time...

Likely obvious by now, but I don't think the current administration is made up of good Republicans. I'd even say they're failures as Republicans, and I kind of wish they'd run off and form some frightening populist third party. That, at least, would be interesting. It won't happen.


But, returning to hope, what if John Roberts, who's been a Republican for decades, doesn't fall into the same category of Republican as the Bush administration? What if he became a Republican for different, just, fair-minded reasons, and then followed through with a career as a Washington lawyer in that camp? He might've done distasteful things for administrations and clients since, but this doesn't necessarily make him an ideologue.


Then (stay with me) what if a fair-minded Republican completely snowed W. into nominating him?


It's not like it would be the first time it happened -- anybody remember Bernie Kerik? I don't think Bush is stupid, but I don't think he's a deep thinker. It seems like he looks at things superficially, makes a quick decision, and stands by that decision no matter how it turns out or however reality might assert itself in favor of a different stance.

What if Bush interviewed Roberts and thought, "Harvard man, football captain, argued in front of the Supreme Court lots, works out regularly... Okay, he seems like the guy."


I'm not convinced that Roberts in a Republican in the Bush mold just because Bush nominated him.


The other point that gives me hope is the fact that liberal organizations haven't been able to come up with an attack on Roberts that isn't crap. The NARAL ad was embarrassing, which is a massive shame. If anybody should be guarding their credibility right now, they should.

The sound bite version of Roberts's stance on equal pay for equal work is that he's against it, yes. But that stance seems to rest on the concept that the courts shouldn't set salary scales, which is reasonable.

Combined with the fact that he's done pro bono work for gay rights organizations, and I'm starting to wonder how much is there for the left to use. It's not like they're not digging.


Also, more of a sidebar, but there's the fact that he has young children. If he's an involved parent, I hope he gets some kind of perspective on growing up now, in the present day. It's a lifetime appointment, and who knows how having a sixteen year old daughter might make him think differently about, say, abortion?


Of course my hope is only that, and for all I know Roberts might actually stand to the right of Pat Robertson. But I figure since he'll be confirmed, I may as well try this for a change. I'll see how it works out.