Here's the first look at some of John Roberts' written responses to questions asked in writing by the Senate. Among the highlights:
The 10-page questionnaire yielded 83 pages of response. It included information about Judge Roberts's financial assets and net worth - nearly $5.3 million, including a stock portfolio worth more than $1.6 million; his work during Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court case that decided the 2000 election in President Bush's favor; and his membership, or lack thereof, in the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. Other documents, released earlier Tuesday by the National Archives, offered new information about his work for the Justice Department in the Reagan administration....Thoughts?
In his essay on judicial activism, Judge Roberts spoke of the importance of precedent, a concept particularly important to those who fear that he would tilt the Supreme Court in a more conservative direction, possibly undoing past decisions like Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal.
He wrote, "Precedent plays an important role in promoting the stability of the legal system, and a sound judicial philosophy should reflect recognition of the fact that the judge operates within a system of rules developed over the years by other judges equally striving to live up to the judicial oath...."
On the role of the courts, Mr. Roberts wrote a long article, presumably as a ghostwriter for Mr. Smith, in which he held that courts should defer to Congress and the executive branch whenever possible.
"Not only are unelected jurists with life tenure less attuned to the popular will than regularly elected officials," he asserted, "but judicial policy making is also inevitably inadequate or imperfect policy making."
