Former President Clinton Says Roberts Very Impressive (Update1)
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Former President Bill Clinton praised Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts as ``highly intelligent,'' while voicing reservations about a memo Roberts wrote in 1984 that called for stripping the high court of some of its power.
``I don't think we should in any way prejudge Judge Roberts,'' Clinton said in an interview to be aired today. ``He is a very impressive man.''
Clinton said the Senate should explore the memo Roberts wrote as a lawyer in the Reagan administration that argued that Congress should be allowed to bar courts from ordering busing to desegregate schools. Clinton said he was ``surprised'' by the memo, calling it ``to the right'' of conservative legal scholar Ted Olson, who was then an assistant U.S. attorney general.
Democratic senators such as Charles Schumer of New York and Patrick Leahy of Vermont have vowed to question Roberts closely in hearings next month to gain insight into his judicial philosophy. Roberts, 50, who has been a federal appeals court judge for two years, would replace Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a pivotal vote on the nine-member high court.
The overall tenor of the former Democratic president's comments about Roberts was favorable. ``He seems to be a really good human being, a person who's got a good family,'' Clinton said. ``He's just as entitled to his politics as I am to mine.''
Clinton noted that his wife, Hillary, a senator from New York, will have a say in Roberts's future. ``I will let Hillary make the decision whether to vote for him,'' Clinton said at his office in New York. ``I don't get a vote.''
School Busing Memo
Roberts, during a 1982-86 stint in the White House counsel's office, was asked to review legislation in Congress including a measure that would have prohibited federal courts from ordering busing. Olson argued Congress was bound by a Supreme Court ruling that busing was constitutionally required in some circumstances.
``I do not agree,'' Roberts wrote to White House counsel Fred Fielding in the Feb. 15, 1984, memo, one of the documents made available by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Congress has the authority ``and can conclude -- the evidence supports this -- that busing promotes segregation rather than remedying it, by precipitating white flight,'' Roberts wrote.
``The general consensus has been that the Supreme Court can hear any case involving a constitutional matter,'' Clinton said. ``So I would like to see that explored in the hearings.''
During the wide-ranging interview yesterday, which touched on global economic issues and trade, Clinton criticized President George W. Bush and Republicans who control Congress for running large federal budget deficits that he said have yet to hurt the U.S. economy because of surpluses under Clinton's administration.
`Big Cushion'
``We've got a big cushion. That is, they got to run those deficits after we ran three years of surpluses,'' Clinton said. He added that it wasn't until ``about the 10th year'' of the 12-year Republican reign during the 1980s and early 1990s that ``we really started to pay the price'' for rising deficits. ``We quadrupled the debt of the country from 1981 to 1992,'' he said.
The U.S. budget deficit reached a record $412 billion in fiscal 2004. In June, the White House forecast a $333 billion deficit for fiscal 2005 based on expectations of higher tax revenue from a U.S. economy growing at an estimated annual rate of 3.5 percent.
``Every country in the end pays a price for fiscal irresponsibility. But some countries have longer periods of self- indulgence than others,'' Clinton said.
In the end, Clinton said Bush's tax cuts have deprived the U.S. of revenue that could be used to shore up the Social Security system, and continuing deficits will eventually be punished with a recession. ``I think it's a mistake,'' he said.
Clinton also said the Bush administration is ``wrong'' for not asking wealthy Americans to foot more of the bill for the conflict in Iraq and the war on terrorism.
Democrats and Trade
Clinton said that while he supported the Central American Free Trade Agreement that Bush signed yesterday, he wouldn't criticize the many congressional Democrats -- including his spouse -- who voted against it. Opponents of Cafta, which lowers tariffs on imports from the region, included more than 90 percent of House Democrats.
``Most of the Democrats who are pro-trade voted against it,'' Clinton said. ``Those are people who voted for my trade agreements and were against it because they weren't consulted, and the enforcement mechanism on labor and environmental agreements was weaker than it had been in the Jordan trade bill that I negotiated at the end of my term.''
Cafta squeaked through the House by a 217-215 midnight vote last week after Bush pushed Republicans to vote for it. Democrats opposed the measure by a 187-15 margin.
Bush, had he included more retraining assistance for U.S. workers who would lose out under the trade deal, could have won more Democratic votes, Clinton said. ``They want to vote yes. And it wouldn't take a great deal to get them to vote yes,'' he said.
`Easier Vote'
Clinton said he ``completely agreed'' with Hillary Clinton's decision to oppose Cafta in the Senate and ``didn't try'' to convince her to vote for it.
``For the senators it was a much easier vote because they knew it was going to pass the Senate,'' he said. ``What she said is, `I have never opposed a trade agreement before. I want to be for this one. I wish that they would put the regular enforcement in there that we started with in Jordan and adequate training for the people who would be dislocated and I'd be for it in a heartbeat.'''
Clinton, who stays in touch with most leading Democratic politicians, had some advice on how his party can offer more clarity and a better narrative to American voters after two presidential election defeats and a tightening of Republican control of Congress.
Citing his campaign adviser James Carville's ``theory of progressive patriotism,'' Clinton said: ``We believe in a country where every American has a chance, and where we share benefits and we share the responsibilities of citizenship, and where we are going forward together instead of a country where we are growing more divided. And we believe in a world where we share the benefits and responsibilities and one in which we not only fight terror but have more partners and fewer terrorists.''
To contact the reporters on this story:
Albert R. Hunt in New York at ahunt1@bloomberg.net
Bill Roberts in Washington at wroberts@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: August 3, 2005 10:18 EDT |
