Reid statement on Roberts:

STATEMENT OF SENATOR HARRY REID ON THE NOMINATION OF JOHN ROBERTS TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT The President has made his choice. Now the Senate will do its job of deciding whether to confirm John Roberts to a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. The President has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry. The Senate must review Judge Roberts¹s record to determine if he has a demonstrated commitment to the core American values of freedom, equality and fairness. The nominee will have an opportunity to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and make his case to the American people. I will not pre-judge this nomination. I look forward to learning more about Judge Roberts. That may be Reid's statement, but you can bet your bippy there's going to be a fight on this one. Take a look at some of his profile in the news: A 2002 article in a cattle industry publication says that Roberts served as a lawyer for Nebraska Cattlemen Inc. in a case pitting the group, along with the National Cattlemens Beef Association, and the Department of Justice against cattle producers.The plaintiffs wanted to opt out of a mandatory fees marketing program that was established in a 1985 farm bill. (Feedstuffs, 07/29/02) Roberts's name appears on the government's brief defending the gag rule under which federally funded family-planning clinics were barred from offering abortion counseling. The brief (Rust v. Sullivan) argued in passing, as the Bush administration contended at the time, that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. In another case, Mr. Roberts argued for the government that the activities of abortion protesters did not constitute discrimination against women. (Washington Post, June 7, 2001) As a former deputy solicitor under the first President Bush, Roberts successfully argued on behalf of the federal government in a 1990 Supreme Court case that private citizens do not have the right to sue over environmental violations unless they have been directly affected by the violation. (Environmental Magazine, December 31, 2003) Involved in three rulings and all thee somehow manage to infringe on rights of the plaintiff. More profile is available HERE