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Politics : The Judiciary -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (75)	9/29/2005 11:53:00 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 817

In a hypothetical governmental unit with 5 persons subject its control, what is the chance that any action will be taken to harm any of constituents? At the last annual meeting of the NEA, democrats joined the Republican Educators Association (or whatever it was called) in sufficient number to gain voting control of the committee so they could use it to claim further support for Democrat ideals. Apparently only 1/3 of the members quit immediately. Frequently in a hypothetical governmental unit with 5 million persons subject its control, if 51% of the voting members support an action that harms 49%, they will go forward with it. That is not the kind of government that best serves its constituents.

To: sandintoes who wrote (75)	9/29/2005 1:11:38 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 817

Roberts confirmed as chief justice September 29, 2005 Associated Press WASHINGTON -- John Glover Roberts Jr. became the 17th chief justice of the United States Thursday, overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate to lead the Supreme Court through turbulent social issues for generations to come. The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Roberts -- a 50-year-old U.S. Appeals judge from the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Md. -- as the successor to the late William H. Rehnquist, who died earlier this month. All of the Senate's majority Republicans, and about half of the Democrats, voted for Roberts. Underscoring the rarity of a chief justice's confirmation, senators answered the roll by standing one by one at their desks as their names were called, instead of voting and leaving the chamber. Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican, voted for Roberts. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, a Democrat considering running for president in 2008, voted against his confirmation. Lugar has called Roberts a “brilliant lawyer and jurist with an extraordinary record of accomplishment and public service.” Bayh has said he wasn’t able to learn enough about Roberts’ beliefs on critical issues to support him. Neither Bayh nor Lugar participated in the floor debate on the nomination, though both had introduced Roberts to the Senate Judiciary Committee because of his Hoosier connection. Roberts lived in Northwest Indiana from ages 8 to 18, graduating from La Lumiere, a Catholic boarding and day college-preparatory school near La Porte. One of his three sisters still lives in Indiana, but a White House spokesman said Roberts’ family is declining interview requests. Another Hoosier, former Indiana Rep. David McIntosh who is now a Washington lobbyist, was part of the White House team helping guide Roberts’ nomination through the Senate. Roberts mentioned his Hoosier roots during his confirmation hearings, saying he had been a “typical middle class kid growing up in Indiana.” Asked whether, because of his comfortable life, he would be able to fight on the court for those less fortunate, Roberts said his life may have been comfortable, but it wasn’t isolated. “I worked in the steel mills outside of Gary during the summers as soon as I was old enough to do that and throughout my life have been exposed to and mixed with at school, learned and played with people of a wide variety of backgrounds,” Roberts said. “Comfortable, yes. But isolated in no sense.” Roberts is the first new Supreme Court justice since 1994. Before becoming a federal judge, Roberts was one of the nation's best appellate lawyers, arguing 39 cases -- many in front of the same eight justices he will now lead as chief justice. He won 25 of those cases. Copyright 2005 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved