Roberts Scoffed at Promotion for O'Connor [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Roberts Scoffed at Promotion for O'Connor
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer

Friday, August 19, 2005
(08-19) 14:48 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

As a lawyer in the Reagan White House, John Roberts scoffed at the notion of elevating Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to chief justice as a way to close a political gender gap, calling it a "crass political consideration."

On another topic, Roberts, who was nominated as a justice by President Bush last month, advised the White House to strike language from a description of a housing bill that referred to the "fundamental right to be free from discrimination." He said that "there of course is no such right."

More than 38,000 pages of documents released this week by the National Archives offer new details that portray Roberts as embracing the conservative philosophy of the Reagan administration.
(snip)

In recent weeks, O'Connor — who has been a swing vote on the Supreme Court on issues including Title IX gender discrimination and affirmative action — has praised Roberts' selection as her successor, but has expressed the one regret that he isn't a woman.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/19/national/w144854D37.DTL