John Roberts' Record

School Desegregation

Roberts argued that Congress could pass a law preventing all federal courts from ordering busing to achieve school desegregation under any circumstances, a position even more extreme that that advanced by Theodore Olson and adopted by the Reagan Administration. 

Access to Justice

Roberts argued that Congress should strip the Supreme Court of the authority to rule on cases regarding school prayer, abortion, busing for school desegregation, and other issues, a position even more extreme that that advanced by Theodore Olson and adopted by the Reagan Administration. 

Affirmative Action

Roberts argued that affirmative action programs were bound to fail because they required “the recruiting of inadequately prepared candidates.” 

Voting Rights

Roberts helped promote the Reagan administration’s efforts to severely limit the circumstances under which minorities could bring suit under the Voting Rights Act. 

Immigrants’ Rights

Roberts criticized a Supreme Court ruling striking down a Texas law that had allowed school districts to exclude children of undocumented immigrants. 

Civil Liberties

In a recently-decided case brought by a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, Judge Roberts joined a ruling holding that the government could try terrorism suspects without granting them basic due process protections. 

Religious Liberty

Roberts argued against clear First Amendment protections for religious liberty and in favor of officially sponsored school prayer at graduation ceremonies before the Supreme Court, which rejected his argument. 

Title IX

Roberts argued to narrow the reach of Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. 

Sex Discrimination

Roberts argued that the Justice Department should not intervene on behalf of female prisoners who were discriminated against in a job-training program, contradicting even the views of extremely conservative Civil Rights Division head, William Bradford Reynolds.
Rights of the Disabled

Roberts criticized as “judicial activism” a court’s order requiring a sign-language interpreter for a hearing-impaired public school student. 

Rights of the Accused

Roberts sought to expand the ability of prosecutors and police to question suspects out of the presence of their attorneys. 

Reproductive Freedom

Roberts urged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision granting women the right to choose. 

Environmental Protection

As a judge, Roberts authored a dissent arguing that the Endangered Species Act may be unconstitutional as applied in that case.  Worse, this case indicated that he may subscribe to the very dangerous new "federalist" views of limited congressional power to protect the environment and the rights of individual Americans 

Executive Power

As a judge, Roberts has shown enormous deference to the executive and an expansive view of executive power.  In one case, for example, he would have gone farther than his colleagues on the court and allowed the Bush Administration retroactively to eliminate the jurisdiction of the federal courts to hear claims against Iraq by American soldiers who had been tortured there as POWs during the Gulf War, at a time when Iraq was considered a terrorist state. 

Excessive Arrest Procedures

Roberts ruled against a 12 year-old girl who was handcuffed, arrested and taken away by police for eating a single French fry on the D.C. Metro, even though an adult would only have gotten a paper citation in that situation.