Publius writes a brilliant post that takes an impressionistic look at Roberts’s past writings and paints a pretty ugly picture of his approach to race issues.
Judge Roberts has some splainin’ to do. As more of these old documents come out, it’s getting harder to come up with a satisfactory explanation for his uniform hostility to any and all efforts to protect civil rights, and to help minorities more generally. At best, I’m thinking that the early Roberts was a product of boarding-school privilege who was unaware and isolated from the reality of racial discrimination. At worst, he was someone who didn’t like minorities. This is a serious criticism, and I would be hesitant to raise it if the troubling theme didn’t arise again and again – and on every single position involving issues implicating race. Because this is not a charge to toss out lightly, it’s important to lay out the basis for my criticism. After I do so, I’d welcome people to respond and tell me why I might be wrong.
It’s very important that you go read this post.
