Below The Beltway

When the head of the third branch of government is hospitalized, it’s always a big story:
WASHINGTON, July 30 — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was hospitalized on today after suffering a seizure at his summer home in Maine, the Supreme Court announced.
The episode, described as a “benign idiopathic seizure,” was similar to one he […]

By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled today that police do not have to knock before entering a home subject to a search warrant. Both John Roberts and Samuel Alito voted with the majority, making this quite likely the first major Constitutional case directly impacted by the changes in the Supreme Court over the […]

John Roberts Confirmed by the Senate
The Senate confirmed John Glover Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the United States, replacing the late William H. Rehnquist, the mentor for whom he clerked.
He is to take the oath of office later today at the White House and will participate on Monday — the first Monday in October […]

That’s the only conclusion possible after reading this column about the Roberts nomination
If I were in the Senate, I’d vote no on Roberts — not because I think he’s unqualified intellectually to be the next chief justice but because I fear an easy life has led him to easy answers. Judge Roberts will surely get […]

Via Hit & Run comes this excerpt from last week’s Roberts confirmation hearings:
FEINGOLD: But at what point did you start thinking about the implications of [9/11], in terms of civil liberties and the challenges this…
ROBERTS: Well, it was when I went back to the office and saw the smoke rising drom the Pentagon. And, as […]

It ain’t over till its over.
Well, in the case of the nomination of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States, its over.
Consider this from David Broder in today’s Washington Post:
The question of whether Judge John Roberts is qualified to be chief justice of the United States has been rendered moot by his […]

In today’s Opinion Journal, Manuel Miranda recounts disturbing but not surprising developments at the Roberts confirmation hearings.
While questioning John Roberts on Tuesday, Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter asked: “Would you say that your views are the same as those expressed by John Kennedy when he was a candidate, and he spoke to the Greater Houston […]

In a classic case of timing, whether good or bad depends on your political persuasion, a federal Judge has ruled that it is unconstitutional to recite the Pledge of Allegience in public schools.
The Plaintiff’s attorney in the case is Michael Neadow; the same man who tried to sued as a parent to bar the pledge […]

Professor Ann Althouse is watching the Roberts confirmation hearings.
Patrick Leahy. I got my first out-loud laugh when Leahy just started reading the whole Preamble of the Constitution to Roberts. Then he kept saying “We the People” as many times as he could. Roberts has a really intense expression on his face ? shots of him […]

I commented back on August 10th about the rather obvious anti-Catholic bigotry coming from some opposed to the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court.
Now, comes this article from today’s Washington Post about the role religion is likely to play in his upcoming confirmation hearings.
The degree to which Roberts’s religious beliefs may inform his […]