John Roberts Confirmation as Chieft Justice... Right to be scared?

[intl_peace]

Well I was reading the news this morning and it turns out that they are going to confirm Roberts as chief justice AHHHH!!! Does this now mean that our reproductive rights are going to be hampered? I just hope he does not try to change a lot well I hope he can't

Comments

[mothqueen]

I saw the article on Yahoo! and feel the same. I don't trust that he'll bring anything but a fight for safe legal abortion. All of us had better be ready to go in kicking, scratching, and screaming!

[superlily74]

He's replacing Rehnquist, and (hopefully) can't be WORSE than Rehnquist. We can really start to worry when Bush announces who he's nominating to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.

[fierceawakening]

I agree ith you.

My family, usually really left-wing, thinks he "sounds okay." I don't grok that.

[judith]

I think the reasoning is that he's an intelligent jurist. If he follows the law and does not let his own personal inclinations get in the way of doing that, he really could be fine. At this point it is just not possible to tell.

[judith]

First of all, there has to be a case on abortion that is relevant. Roberts can't just reach into a bag and say "let's overturn R v W". He also isn't operating in a vacuum. There has to be a majority.

Second, if Row v. Wade is overturned, the main result is that abortion laws will again be in the hands of the states. Which means that some states will outlaw them and some won't.

Third, it makes more sense for conservatives to keep this card than to play it. It is harder to rally the troops - ie the Christian Right - when the deed is done. It's better to have it on the burner and to keep teling them they've got to vote to keep the cons in office. This is why I don't personally see Roe v. Wade being overturned.

Of course it's just my opinion! I do feel that we've not looked at the actual results of an overturn closely enough. We should step back and look at that. I think it would not be great but neither would it be catastrophic. Many many states are unlikely to ban abortions.

[lttlredcorvette]

you know, that's a really good point that i hadn't thought of. if the right DOES actually listen to the christian fundamentalist nutjobs and somehow manges to overturn roe v. wade and outlaw homosexual marriage with an amendment, those people might be more likely to be apathetic about voting. then again, maybe not. or maybe they'll try to push through one key issue and still have another to bait them. that's a really good strategy for them though. i just feel like the psycho right is generating voting-age offspring far faster than normal-minded moderates or liberals are.

[judith]

It seems that way, doesn't it? I hope it's just our imaginations.

[anne_jumps]

Third, it makes more sense for conservatives to keep this card than to play it. It is harder to rally the troops - ie the Christian Right - when the deed is done. ...It's better to have it on the burner and to keep teling them they've got to vote to keep the cons in office.

I agree. They get a lot of mileage out of exploiting the "You've got to help us fight by voting for us!" thing.

[robynchick]

The scary part is, that we don't know...

On the other hand, he seems to be less socially conservative than the justice he's replacing, but he's REALLY young, and we know NOTHING about his politics.

He does say he supports the right to privacy (effectively code for the right to choose) but he could just be saying that.

[heartofkara]

Who knows, once he's up there he can change his political views and might grow to be liberal for all we know - it's a LIFETIME appointment and Bush can't recall if Robert's opinions change.