Sep 16, 2005   | COMMENTS     

Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade, which cited privacy rights as the basis for overturning state laws prohibiting abortions.

Justices voting with the majority on the Supreme Court in the 6-3 Lawrence decision cited Roe in a line of cases as precedents for overturning sodomy laws.

In response to Specter’s questions, Roberts said his memos during the Reagan presidency reflected his role as an advocate for a conservative administration. He said his often quoted memo characterizing privacy rights as an “amorphous” right that could not be found in the Constitution referred to a statement by someone else.

President Bush nominated Roberts, a federal appeals court judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, to fill one of two Supreme Court seats that became vacant following the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Bush has yet to nominate someone to fill O’Connor’s seat.

Civil rights leaders, including gay civil rights advocates, have expressed concern that Roberts and the next nominee Bush will name could tip the balance of the often closely divided high court in favor of a more conservative body hostile to the rights of gays and other minorities. Four gay rights groups, including HRC, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Parents Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG) announced their opposition to Roberts even before Bush re-nominated him for chief justice.

Conservative activists and religious right groups have called on Bush to alter the court’s makeup, with the objective of ensuring that the court will soon overturn Roe vs. Wade as well as Lawrence vs. Texas.

As of early Wednesday, when the Judiciary Committee began its third day of Roberts’ confirmation hearings, senators on the panel had largely ignored a set of 30 gay-related questions that the national gay group Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund urged the senators to ask Roberts.

Lambda’s list included specific questions about Roberts’ views on the Lawrence decision and the 1996 decision of Romer vs. Evans, another landmark gay ruling.

The Romer ruling overturned a Colorado State constitutional amendment barring the Colorado legislature or any of its cities and towns from passing laws protecting gays from discrimination.

Michael Adams, a spokesperson for Lambda, said that while senators had yet to specifically raise most of Lambda’s proposed questions for Roberts, senators did raise issues surrounding privacy rights and the Roe vs. Wade and Griswold vs. Connecticut cases — three key questions on Lamb