More on Roberts

This Boston Globe article has a little more Roberts.

It points out the argument against Roe he made in 1991 was on behalf of a client (George Bush Sr.) and might not represent his own views. He is a member of the Federalist Society, a fraternity of legal conservatives whose members often espouse the view that the Constitution should be interpreted literally and oppose ''activist" judicial decisions that find implicit but unwritten rights in the document -- including the unwritten right to privacy from which abortion rights are derived.

However, during his 2003 confirmation, Roberts said, ''Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. . . . There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent." I think this means he supports Stare decisis which means that courts will not overturn established precedent without an extraordinary reason to do so, though it could be that in a lower court he had no choice. Thomas is the only current justice who doesn't believe in it and is willing to overturn decisions he views as incorrect, even if they've been established and working law for over century.

The last paragraph in the Globe article is: "I think it's very hard to say what his legal views are," said Dennis Hutchinson, associate dean of University of Chicago Law School. ''Everybody is going to be spinning it from both sides. But no one knows the Supreme Court better, of all the candidates. He was widely regarded as one of the best oral argument makers in the last decade on the court. He has impeccable academic credentials. He has a calm, judicial demeanor. He's going to be very tough to fight."