Charlie Rose on John Roberts' first days on the Supreme Court [View All]

[Tactical Progressive]

Tom Goldstein - lawyer who just took a case to the Supreme Court, very familiar with the court. Worked for Gore in 2000.

Justices very happy to have John Roberts on the court.
Almost like coming home he's litigated there so often.
Stevens, the oldest - 35yrs older than Roberts - almost looks up to Roberts.
Roberts is a superstar that everybody likes.
He has different, more pragmatic, concerns than Rehnquist.

Takes on current Justices:

Steven Breyer - academic, ponders the large issues
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: persnicity, very detail oriented
Sandra Day O'Connor: broader conceptions of the law, more visionary
John Paul Stevens: the most polite gentleman you'll ever meet, doesn't talk for the sake of talking
Anthony Kennedy: underrated as a pragmatist as opposed to large legal issues
Scalia: the greatest. Most principled: the Justice most likely to vote against what he wants
David Souter: very deep thinker, won't let go if he sees a problem

Case about federal labor law - fisheries - do you get paid for putting on the extensive clothing required?

Thinks Roberts will be less in favor of State's Rights.
Thinks Roberts will be more centrist than Rehnquist.

Scalia adored by other justices, respected for both his intellect and his principles, as well as his personal relationship skills which he inferred weren't as well developed in the other Justices. They do seem to be a bunch of loners when you think about it.

Court isn't divided; they are extremely tight and friendly.

Tom's take on 2000: he feels the Supreme Court was afraid that the Florida Supreme Court would try to steal the election for Gore and that's why they took the case. He worked for Gore.
Court not at their best in 2000, and he thinks they'd agree with that.
(Not at their best - that's funny.)

All-in-all, given the impressions of his being more centrist and less 'states-rights' oriented than Rhenquist, it's starting off well. I had a sense that Roberts wouldn't be as far right as the hard-case Conservative ideologues. I have the same feeling about Harriet Miers, but I want to watch the hearings.

This preliminary Roberts impression is very good news.