John G. Roberts

John Glover Roberts, Jr.
John G. Roberts
Incumbent
Assumed office 
September 29, 2005
Nominated by George W. Bush
Preceded by William Rehnquist
Born January 27, 1955 (age 53)
Buffalo, New York
Spouse Jane Sullivan Roberts
Alma mater Harvard University
Religion Roman Catholic[1]

John Glover Roberts, Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is the seventeenth and current Chief Justice of the United States. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Roberts is generally considered a member of the more conservative wing of the court.

Before joining the Supreme Court on September 29, 2005, Roberts was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for two years.

Previously, he spent 14 years in private law practice and held positions in Republican administrations in the U.S. Department of Justice and Office of the White House Counsel.

Contents

Early years

Roberts was born in Buffalo, New York, on January 27, 1955, the son of John Glover ("Jack") Roberts, Sr.(1928-2008) and Rosemary, née Podrasky. All of his maternal great-grandparents were from Czechoslovakia.[2] His father was a plant manager with Bethlehem Steel.[3] When Roberts was in second grade, his family moved to the beachside town of Long Beach, Indiana. He grew up with three sisters: Kathy, Peggy, and Barbara.

Roberts attended Notre Dame Elementary School, a Catholic grade school in Long Beach, and then La Lumiere School, a Catholic boarding school in LaPorte, Indiana and was an excellent student and athlete.[4] He studied six years of Latin and some French, and was known for his devotion to his studies.

He was captain of his football team (he later described himself as a "slow-footed linebacker"), and was a Regional Champion in wrestling. He participated in choir and drama, co-edited the school newspaper, and served on the athletic council and the Executive Committee of the Student Council.[3]

Roberts attended Harvard College, graduating with an A.B. in history summa cum laude in three years. He then attended Harvard Law School, was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review,[3] and graduated with his J.D. magna cum laude.

Personal finances

According to a 16-page financial disclosure form Roberts submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee prior to his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, his net worth was more than $6 million, including $1.6 million in stock holdings. At the time Roberts left private practice to join the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003, he took a pay cut from $1 million a year to $171,800; as Chief Justice his salary is $217,400. Roberts also holds a one-eighth interest in a cottage in Knocklong, an Irish village in County Limerick, where his wife's family roots lie.

Personal life

Roberts married Jane Sullivan in Washington in 1996.[3] She is a fellow attorney, a devout Catholic, and a trustee (along with Clarence Thomas) at her alma mater, the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Robertses adopted two children, John and Josephine.[3]

Health

Chief Justice Roberts suffered a seizure on July 30, 2007, while at his vacation home on Hupper Island off the village of Port Clyde in St. George, Maine.[5][6] As a result of the seizure he fell five to ten feet but suffered only minor scrapes.[5] The fall occurred on a dock near his house, and he was taken by private boat to the mainland[6] (which is several hundred yards from the island) and was then taken by ambulance to Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, where he stayed overnight, according to Supreme Court spokesperson Kathy Arberg.[7] Doctors called the incident a benign idiopathic seizure, which means there was no obvious physiological cause.[5][6][8][9]

Roberts suffered a similar seizure in 1993.[5][6][8] After this first seizure, Roberts temporarily limited some of his activities, such as driving. According to Senator Arlen Specter, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during Roberts' nomination to be Chief Justice in 2005, senators were aware of this seizure when they were considering his nomination, but the committee did not think it was significant enough to bring up during his confirmation hearings. Federal judges are not required by law to release information about their health.[5]

According to neurologist Dr. Marc Schlosberg of Washington Hospital Center, who has no direct connection to the Roberts case, someone who has had more than one seizure without any other cause is by definition determined to have epilepsy. After two seizures, the likelihood of another at some point is greater than 60 percent.[6] Dr. Steven Garner of New York Methodist Hospital, who is also uninvolved with the case, said that Roberts' previous history of seizures means that the second incident may be less serious than if this were a newly-emerging problem.[8]

The Supreme Court said in a statement Roberts has "fully recovered from the incident," and a neurological evaluation "revealed no cause for concern." Sanjay Gupta, a CNN contributor and a neurosurgeon not directly involved in Roberts' case, said when an otherwise healthy person has a seizure, his doctor would investigate whether the patient had started any new medications and had normal electrolyte levels. If those two things were normal, then a brain scan would be performed. If Roberts does not have another seizure within a relatively short time period, Gupta said he was unsure if Roberts would be given the diagnosis of epilepsy. He said the Chief Justice may need to take an anti-seizure medication.[9]

Private practice

After graduating from law school, Roberts served as a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for one year.[3] From 1980 to 1981, he clerked for then-Associate Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court. From 1981 to 1982, he served in the Reagan administration as a Special Assistant to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith.[3] From 1982 to 1986, Roberts served as Associate Counsel to the President under White House Counsel Fred Fielding.

Roberts entered private law practice in 1986 as an associate at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Hogan & Hartson, but left to serve in the George H. W. Bush administration as Principal Deputy Solicitor General from 1989 to 1993.[3] During this time, Roberts argued 39 cases for the government before the Supreme Court, prevailing in 25 of them. He represented 18 states in United States v. Microsoft.

In 1992, George H. W. Bush nominated Roberts to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but no Senate vote was held, and Roberts' nomination expired when Bush left office after losing the 1992 presidential election. Roberts returned to Hogan & Hartson as a partner and became the head of the firm's appellate practice, in addition to serving as an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center. In his capacity as head of Hogan & Hartson's appellate practice, Roberts argued a total of 39 cases before the Supreme Court, including:

Case Argued Decided Represented
First Options v. Kaplan, 514 U.S. 938 March 22, 1995 May 22, 1995 Respondent
Adams v. Robertson, 520 U.S. 83 January 14, 1997 March 3, 1997 Respondent
Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, 522 U.S. 520 December 10, 1997 February 25, 1998 Petitioner
Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc., 523 U.S. 340 January 21, 1998 March 31, 1998 Petitioner
National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Smith, 525 U.S. 459 January 20, 1999 February 23, 1999 Petitioner
Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495 October 6, 1999 February 23, 2000 Respondent
Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v. Mine Workers, 531 U.S. 57 October 2, 2000 November 28, 2000 Petitioner
TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc., 532 U.S. 23 November 29, 2000 March 20, 2001 Petitioner
Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 November 7, 2001 January 8, 2002 Petitioner
Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 535 U.S. 302 January 7, 2002 April 23, 2002 Respondent
Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran, 536 U.S. 355 January 16, 2002 June 20, 2002 Petitioner
Gonzaga University v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273 April 24, 2002 June 20, 2002 Petitioner
Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co., 537 U.S. 149 October 8, 2002 January 15, 2003 Respondent
Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 November 13, 2002 March 5, 2003 Petitioner

During the late 1990s, while working for Hogan & Hartson, Roberts served as a member of the steering committee of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Federalist Society.[10]

Chief Justice Roberts is one of twelve Catholic justices{ {ndash}} out of 110 total in the history of the Supreme Court.[11]

Jurisprudence

During Judiciary Committee hearings on his nomination to the circuit court, Roberts testified about his views on jurisprudence.[12]

Commerce Clause

"Starting with McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall gave a very broad and expansive reading to the powers of the Federal Government and explained generally that if the ends be legitimate, then any means chosen to achieve them are within the power of the Federal Government, and cases interpreting that, throughout the years, have come down. Certainly, by the time Lopez was decided, many of us had learned in law school that it was just sort of a formality to say that interstate commerce was affected and that cases weren't going to be thrown out that way. Lopez certainly breathed new life into the Commerce Clause.
"I think it remains to be seen, in subsequent decisions, how rigorous a showing, and in many cases, it is just a showing. It's not a question of an abstract fact, does this affect interstate commerce or not, but has this body, the Congress, demonstrated the impact on interstate commerce that drove them to legislate? That's a very important factor. It wasn't present in Lopez at all. I think the members of Congress had heard the same thing I had heard in law school, that this is unimportant — and they hadn't gone through the process of establishing a record in that case."[12]

Federalism

"Simply because you have a problem that needs addressing, it's not necessarily the case that Federal legislation is the best way to address it.... The constitutional limitation doesn't turn on whether it's a good idea. There is not a 'good idea' clause in the Constitution. It can be a bad idea, but certainly still satisfy the constitutional requirements."[12]

Applying precedent

"The Supreme Court has, throughout its history, on many occasions described the deference that is due to legislative judgments. Justice Holmes described assessing the constitutionality of an act of Congress as the gravest duty that the Supreme Court is called upon to perform.... It's a principle that is easily stated and needs to be observed in practice, as well as in theory.
"Now, the Court, of course, has the obligation, and has been recognized since Marbury v. Madison, to assess the constitutionality of acts of Congress, and when those acts are challenged, it is the obligation of the Court to say what the law is. The determination of when deference to legislative policy judgments goes too far and becomes abdication of the judicial responsibility, and when scrutiny of those judgments goes too far on the part of the judges and becomes what I think is properly called judicial activism, that is certainly the central dilemma of having an unelected, as you describe it correctly, undemocratic judiciary in a democratic republic."[13]

In referring to Brown v. Board that overturned school segregation: "the Court in that case, of course, overruled a prior decision. I don't think that constitutes judicial activism because obviously if the decision is wrong, it should be overruled. That's not activism. That's applying the law correctly."[14]

Roe v. Wade

While working as a lawyer for the Reagan administration, Roberts wrote legal memos forcefully defending Reagan's policies on abortion.[15] At his nomination hearing Roberts testified that the legal memos represented the views of the administration he was representing at the time and not necessarily his own.[16] "Senator, I was a staff lawyer; I didn't have a position," Roberts said.[16] As a lawyer in the George H.W. Bush administration, Roberts signed a legal brief urging the court to overturn Roe v. Wade.[17]

In private meetings with senators before his confirmation, Roberts testified that Roe was settled law, but he added that it was subject to the legal principle of stare decisis.[18] This told senators little - Roberts was saying only that Roe is settled law so long as the Supreme Court says so.[18]

In his Senate testimony, Roberts acknowledged that, while sitting on the Appellate Court, he would have an obligation to respect precedents established by the Supreme Court, including the controversial decision invalidating many restrictions on the right to an abortion. He stated: "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land.... There is nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent, as well as Casey." Following the traditional reticence of nominees to indicate which way they might vote on an issue likely to come before the high court, he did not explicitly say whether he would vote to overturn either.[19]

See John Roberts Supreme Court nomination and hearings for speculation about Roberts's current views, concerns about these views raised in the hearings, and the potential impact they might have on his actions in the Supreme Court.

Free speech

Roberts authored the 2007 student free speech case Morse v. Frederick, ruling that a student in a public school-sponsored activity does not have the right to advocate drug use on the basis that the right to free speech does not invariably prevent the exercise of school discipline.[20]

Opinions as court of appeals judge

During his two year tenure on the D.C. Circuit, Roberts authored 49 opinions (which elicited only two dissents from other judges). During that same time frame, he authored only three dissenting opinions of his own. Because of this short record, it is difficult to ascertain from his appellate decisions a general approach to the Constitution, and he has not publicly stated on what he considers the best methods of constitutional and statutory interpretation. He has even said that "I do not think beginning with an all-encompassing approach to constitutional interpretation is the best way to faithfully construe the document."[19] Cass Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago argued at the time of his confirmation as Chief Justice that, in general, Roberts appears to be a judicial minimalist, emphasizing precedent, as opposed to an originalism-oriented or rights-focused jurist. "Roberts's opinions thus far [as a court of appeals judge] are careful, lawyerly and narrow. They avoid broad pronouncements. They do not try to reorient the law."

His past rulings as a court of appeals judge included the following issues:

Fourth and Fifth Amendments

The D.C. Circuit case Hedgepeth v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 386 F.3d 1148,[21] involved a 12-year-old girl who was, according to the Washington Post, asked if she had any drugs in her possession, searched for drugs, taken into custody, handcuffed, driven to police headquarters, booked and fingerprinted because she violated a publicly-advertised zero tolerance "no eating" policy in a Washington D.C. metro station by eating a single french fry. Roberts wrote for a 3-0 panel affirming a district court decision that dismissed the girl's complaint, which was predicated on the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, specifically the claim that an adult would have only received a citation for the same offense, while children must be detained until parents are notified.

Roberts began his opinion by noting, "No one is very happy about the events that led to this litigation," and pointing out that the policies under which the girl was apprehended had since been changed. Because age discrimination is allowed under previous jurisprudence if there is any rational basis for it, only weak state interests were required to justify the policy. "Because parents and guardians play an essential role in that rehabilitative process, it is reasonable for the District to seek to ensure their participation, and the method chosen — detention until the parent is notified and retrieves the child — certainly does that, in a way issuing a citation might not." Roberts concluded that the age discrimination and detention in this case were constitutional, noting that "the question before us... is not whether these policies were a bad idea, but whether they violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.", language reminiscent of Justice Potter Stewart's dissent in Griswold v. Connecticut, in which Justice Stewart wrote, "We are not asked in this case to say whether we think this law is unwise, or even asinine. We are asked to hold that it violates the United States Constitution. And that, I cannot do."

Military tribunals

In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Roberts was part of a unanimous Circuit panel overturning the district court ruling and upholding military tribunals set up by the Bush administration for trying terrorism suspects known as enemy combatants. Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph, writing for the court, ruled that Hamdan, a driver for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden,[22] could be tried by a military court because:

  1. the military commission had the approval of the United States Congress;
  2. the Third Geneva Convention is a treaty between nations and as such it does not confer individual rights and remedies enforceable in U.S. courts;
  3. even if the Convention could be enforced in U.S. courts, it would not be of assistance to Hamdan at the time because, for a conflict such as the war against Al-Qaeda (considered by the court as a separate war from that against Afghanistan itself) that is not between two countries, it guarantees only a certain standard of judicial procedure without speaking to the jurisdiction in which the prisoner must be tried.

The court held open the possibility of judicial review of the results of the military commission after the current proceedings have ended.[23] This decision was overturned on June 29, 2006 by the Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision, with Roberts not participating due to his prior ruling as a circuit judge.

Environmental regulation

On the U.S. Court of Appeals, Roberts wrote a dissenting opinion regarding Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton, 323 F.3d 1062, a case involving the protection of a rare California toad under the Endangered Species Act. When the court denied a rehearing en banc, 334 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003), Roberts dissented, arguing that the original opinion was wrongly decided because he found it inconsistent with United States v. Lopez and United States v. Morrison in that it focused on the effects of the regulation, rather than the taking of the toads themselves, on interstate commerce. In Roberts's view, the Commerce Clause of the Constitution did not permit the government to regulate activity affecting what he called "a hapless toad" that "for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California." He said that reviewing the case could allow the court "alternative grounds for sustaining application of the Act that may be more consistent with Supreme Court precedent."[24]

Career background

1979-1980: Clerked for Judge Henry Friendly of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Friendly, a widely-respected judge who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Jimmy Carter in 1977, had served on the circuit court since 1959.

1980-1981: Clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. Rehnquist would become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1986.

1981-1982: Special Assistant to U.S. Attorney General William F. Smith under the Reagan administration.

1982-1986: Associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan.

1986-1989: Associate counsel at Hogan & Hartson, the largest law firm in Washington, D.C.

1989-1993: Principal Deputy Solicitor General for the U.S. Department of Justice under the first Bush administration.

1992: Nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals by George Bush, but his nomination never received a Senate vote and was ultimately lost in the shuffle following Bill Clinton's victory over Bush in the 1992 presidential election.

1993-2003: Partner at Hogan & Hartson, and head of the firm's appellate practice division.

2001: Nominated for a second time to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, but the nomination died in committee before receiving a Senate vote.

2003-2005: Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; confirmed after being nominated for a third time in 2003.

2005-present: Chief Justice of the United States.

U.S. Supreme Court

Nomination and confirmation

Main article: John Roberts Supreme Court nomination and hearings

On July 19, 2005, President Bush nominated Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill a vacancy that would be left by the announced retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Roberts was the first Supreme Court nominee since Stephen Breyer in 1994. Bush announced Roberts' nomination in a live, nationwide television broadcast from the East Room of the White House at 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

John Roberts appears in the background, while President Bush is announcing his nomination for the position of Chief Justice.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died on September 3, 2005 while Roberts' confirmation was still pending before the Senate. Shortly thereafter, on September 6, Bush withdrew Roberts's nomination as O'Connor's successor and announced Roberts' new nomination to the position of Chief Justice. Bush asked the Senate to expedite Roberts' confirmation hearings in order to fill the vacancy by the beginning of the Supreme Court's session in early October.

On September 22 the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Roberts' nomination by a vote of 13-5, with Senators Ted Kennedy, Richard Durbin, Charles Schumer, Joe Biden and Dianne Feinstein the dissenting votes. Roberts was confirmed by the full Senate on September 29, passing by a margin of 78-22.[25] All Republicans and the lone Independent voted for Roberts; the Democrats split evenly, 22 for and 22 against. Roberts was confirmed by what was, historically, a narrow margin for a Supreme Court Justice. This reflects the increasing politicization and partisanship of Congress in selecting Supreme Court nominees, though this margin was greater than the 1986 65-33 vote confirming Roberts' predecessor, William Rehnquist, as Chief Justice, and far greater than the 52-48 vote confirming Clarence Thomas as Associate Justice in 1991.[26]

The Roberts Court

Roberts is sworn in as Chief Justice by Justice John Paul Stevens in the East Room of the White House, September 29, 2005.

On September 29, just hours after his Senate confirmation, Roberts took the Constitutional oath of office, which was administered by senior Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at the White House. He took the judicial oath provided for by the Judiciary Act of 1789 on September 29, 2005 at the United States Supreme Court building, prior to the first oral arguments of the 2005 term. Then 50, Roberts became the youngest member of the Court, and the third-youngest person to have ever become Chief Justice (John Jay was appointed at age 44 in 1789 while John Marshall was appointed at age 45 in 1801). However, many Associate Justices, such as Clarence Thomas (appointed at age 43) and William O. Douglas (appointed at age 41 in 1939), have joined the Court at a younger age than Roberts.

Roberts presided over his first oral arguments on October 3, 2005, when the Court began its 2005–2006 session. Ending a week's worth of idle speculation, Roberts opted to wear a plain black robe on his first day, dispensing with the gold sleeve-bars added to the Chief Justice's robes by his late predecessor.

On January 17, 2006, Roberts dissented along with Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in Gonzales v. Oregon, which held that the Controlled Substances Act does not allow the United States Attorney General to prohibit physicians from prescribing drugs for the assisted suicide of the terminally ill as permitted by an Oregon law. However, the point of contention in this case was largely one of statutory interpretation, not federalism.

On March 6, 2006, Roberts wrote the unanimous decision in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights that colleges accepting federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, despite university objections to the Clinton administration-initiated "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military.

Fourth Amendment

Roberts wrote his first dissent in the case Georgia v. Randolph, decided March 22, 2006. The majority's decision prohibited police from searching a home if, as in this case, both occupants are present but one occupant objected while another consented. Roberts' dissent criticized the majority opinion as inconsistent with prior case law and for basing its reasoning in part on its perception of social custom.

Notice and Opportunity to Be Heard

Although Roberts has often sided with Scalia and Thomas, Roberts was the tie-breaking vote (if a tie vote occurs, the lower court decision stands) in Jones v. Flowers. In Jones, Roberts sided with the liberal block of the court determining that before a home is seized and sold in a tax-forfeiture sale, due diligence must be demonstrated and proper notification needs to be sent to the owners. Dissenting were Anthony Kennedy along with Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Samuel Alito did not participate, while Roberts' ruling was joined by David Souter, Stephen Breyer, John Paul Stevens, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Abortion

On the Supreme Court, Roberts has indicated he supports some abortion restrictions but has not committed to overturn Roe v. Wade. On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court handed down a decision upholding the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in the case of Gonzales v. Carhart. Roberts voted to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Act along with four other justices. He assigned writing of the opinion to Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy wrote for the five-justice majority that Congress was within its power to generally ban the procedure, although the Court left the door open for as-applied challenges.

Kennedy's opinion did not reach the question whether the Court's prior decisions in Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and Stenberg v. Carhart were valid, but stated that this opinion did not conflict with those opinions. Joining the majority was Justice Samuel Alito. Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, filed a concurring opinion, contending that the Court's prior decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey should be reversed, and also noting that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act may exceed the powers of Congress under the Commerce Clause. Roberts, along with Alito, refused to sign on to that opinion. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer dissented, contending that the ruling ignored Supreme Court abortion precedent.

School Desegregation

Roberts is against school districts' attempts to stop racial segregation by assigning students to particular schools based on their race.[27] Roberts sees plans such as these as discrimination in violation of the constitution's equal protection clause and the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.[27][28] Chief Justice John Roberts said the districts, "failed to show that they considered methods other than explicit racial classifications to achieve their stated goals."[29]

Bibliography of articles by John G. Roberts Jr.

The University of Michigan Law Library (External Links, below) has compiled fulltext links to these articles and a number of briefs and arguments.

See also

Further reading

News articles

Government/official biographies

Other

References

  1. ↑ John G. Roberts bio from Notable Names Database
  2. ↑ Ancestry of John G. Roberts
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Purdum, Todd S.; Jodi Wilgoren and Pam Belluck (2005-07-21). "Court Nominee's Life Is Rooted in Faith and Respect for Law". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  4. ↑ Notre Dame Catholic Church & School. "Notre Dame Parish: Alumni". Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Mears, Bill; Jeane Meserve (2007-07-31). "Chief justice tumbles after seizure". CNN. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Sherman, Mark (2007-07-31). "Chief Justice Roberts Suffers Seizures". The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  7. ↑ Maine Today staff (2007-07-30). "Chief Justice John Roberts hospitalized in Maine". Maine Today. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 McCaleb, Ian; Associated Press (2007-07-31). "President Bush Phones Chief Justice John Roberts at Hospital". Fox News. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chernoff, Alan; Bill Mears, Dana Bash (2007-07-31). "Chief justice leaves hospital after seizure". CNN. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  10. ↑ Lane, Charles (2005-07-25). "Roberts Listed in Federalist Society '97-98 Directory". The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  11. ↑ Justice Sherman Minton converted to Catholicism after his retirement. See Religious affiliation of Supreme Court justices
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 [1].akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/26jan20041230/www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/pdf/108hrg/92548.pdf GPO Hearings]
  13. ↑ S:\GPO\HEARINGS\92548.000
  14. ↑ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (2005-09-15). "Testimony of the Honorable Dick Thornburgh". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  15. ↑ Greenburg, Jan Crawford (2007). Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court. New York: Penguin Press. pp. 232. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Goldstein, Amy; Charles Babington (2005-09-15). "Roberts Avoids Specifics on Abortion Issue". The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
  17. ↑ Greenburg, Jan Crawford (2007). Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court. New York: Penguin Press. pp. 226. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Greenburg, Jan Crawford (2007). Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court. New York: Penguin Press. pp. 233. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (2003). "Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments". Government Printing Office. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
  20. ↑ Economist.com (2007-06-28). "The Supreme Court says no to race discrimination in schools". Economist.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
  21. ↑ Hedgepeth v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, DC 03-7149 (United States District Court for the District of Columbia 2004).
  22. ↑ Lawyer says Hamden not al-Qaeda - Yemeni was bin Laden's driver - local - Yemen Times
  23. ↑ http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200507/04-5393a.pdf
  24. ↑ See also: "Chief Justice Roberts — Constitutional Interpretations of Article III and the Commerce Clause: Will the "Hapless Toad" and "John Q. Public" Have Any Protection in the Roberts Court?" Paul A. Fortenberry and Daniel Canton Beck. 13 U. Balt. J. Envtl. L. 55 (2005)
  25. ↑ http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00245
  26. ↑ "Supreme Court Nominations, 1789–2005: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President" Congressional Research Service January 5, 2005
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Toobin, Jeffrey (2008). The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. New York: Doubleday. pp. 389. ISBN 978-0385516402. 
  28. ↑ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11507805
  29. ↑ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11507805
  30. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/24/AR2005072401201.html
  31. ↑ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8625492
  32. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072101782.html?nav=hcmodule
  33. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/19/AR2005071901426.html
  34. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/19/AR2005071902065.html
  35. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/politics/politicsspecial1/19cnd-judge.html?hp&ex=1121832000&en=856520306462d3af&ei=5094&partner=homepage
  36. ↑ http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Politics/Florida/03FloridaPOLF01072305.htm
  37. ↑ http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN19377424&imageid=&cap=
  38. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072101961.html?nav=hcmodule
  39. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/20/AR2005072002431.html?nav=hcmodule
  40. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/20/AR2005072002322.html
  41. ↑ http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050720/NEWS02/507200476
  42. ↑ http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05200/540299.stm
  43. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5152882,00.html
  44. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/20/roberts.profile.ap/
  45. ↑ http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news%5C071905_nw_john_roberts.html
  46. ↑ http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050719-7.html
  47. ↑ http://air.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=3001
  48. ↑ http://www.usdoj.gov/olp/robertsbio.htm
  49. ↑ http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/internet.nsf/Content/Stub+-+Biographical+Sketches+of+the+Judges+of+U.S.+Court+of+Appeals+for+the+DC+Circuit
  50. ↑ http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/pdf/108hrg/89324.pdf (large PDF file)
  51. ↑ http://www.nationalreview.com/coffin/coffin200507192142.asp
  52. ↑ http://www.hhlaw.com/site/news.aspx?Show=538
  53. ↑ http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/850/
  54. ↑ http://www.lalumiere.org/about/roberts.htm
  55. ↑ http://www.newsmeat.com/judiciary_political_donations/John_G_Roberts.php
  56. ↑ http://judgeroberts.com/
  57. ↑ http://www.independentjudiciary.com/resources/docs/John_Roberts_Report.pdf (PDF file)

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Preceded by
James L. Buckley		 Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
2003 – 2005		 Vacant
Preceded by
William H. Rehnquist		 Chief Justice of the United States
September 29, 2005 – present		 Incumbent
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Preceded by
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House of Representatives		 United States order of precedence
Chief Justice of the United States		 Succeeded by
Jimmy Carter
Former President of the United States
Judicial opinions of John Roberts
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Chief Justice: John Glover Roberts, Jr. (2005 to present)
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Persondata
NAME Roberts, John Glover, Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION U.S. Supreme Court justice
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Buffalo, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH