[Mb-civic] A Conservative, Yes, but Not a Scalia - Charles Lane - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

A Conservative, Yes, but Not a Scalia

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page A13

After two days of often intense questioning of John G. Roberts Jr. by 
the Senate Judiciary Committee, a new image of President Bush's nominee 
for chief justice of the United States is coming into focus.

Still blurry at the edges, thanks to Roberts's refusal to declare how he 
would rule on abortion rights and other specific issues, it is 
nevertheless a picture of a conservative different in important respects 
from the two members of the Supreme Court whom Bush has said he most 
admires, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Scalia has said that courts should avoid basing their interpretations of 
laws on the history behind them; Roberts said there is a role for 
legislative history. Thomas has embraced an approach to constitutional 
interpretation that relies heavily on his view of the original intent of 
the framers; Roberts said that is not always possible.

Concretely, Roberts said he believes the Constitution creates a right to 
privacy. Such a right was recognized by the Supreme Court in modern 
cases protecting the use of contraception, abortion and consensual 
homosexual conduct, but which Scalia and Thomas have sharply criticized.

Asked by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) if he considered himself "in 
the mold" of Scalia and Thomas, Roberts replied, "I will be my own man 
on the Supreme Court."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091402480.html?nav=hcmodule
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