In 1963, with the collaboration of the Delaware Highway Patrol, producers for the television program “Candid Camera” set up on the Pennsylvania-Delaware border a sawhorse with a sign on it that said, “Delaware is Closed Today.” A man, dressed in what vaguely looked like a uniform, told drivers Delaware was closed for repairs and that they should come back the following day. The obedient citizens all turned their cars around and drove away. One woman asked, “Is Jersey open?”
That stunt in particular and “Candid Camera” in general relied on the premise that Americans are docile enough to obey any authority, even ridiculous authority.
Wednesday, the New York Times reported that when he was employed by the Reagan Justice Department, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts wrote a memorandum in which he argues that there is no explicit Constitutional basis for the right to travel between states. Although he got the order backward, the conservative lawyer adhered to Karl Marx’s dictum: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
George Bush’s second term is not shaping up to be the victory lap he anticipated. The Iraq quagmire deepens (the number of American war dead will probably hit the patriotic number 1,776 any day), his plan to eviscerate Social Security is dead, the Karl Rove scandal burns out of control and Senate Republicans want to outlaw Pentagon torture protocols.
As the tide is running so strong against Mr. Bush, some people were speculating that perhaps Mr. Roberts’s nomination (“He’s such a nice guy!”) represented some kind of accommodation to reality by the White House. The more I read about Mr. Roberts, the more it is clear reality remains unaccommodated and the more the nominee creeps me out.
When he was 13, Mr. Roberts wrote a high-school admissions officer that he wanted the best education so he could get the best job. High school classmates say he would be upset if he got a grade as low as a 98 or 99. Yeah, that’s the guy I want passing judgment on issues affecting my life.
Perfection, it seems, is not what it used to be. When Mr. Roberts’s nomination was announced, several media outlets reported he is a member of the Federalist Society, a right-leaning legal association that keeps its membership secret. Those media outlets were chastised by the famously accurate White House press office; John Roberts is not, nor has he ever been, a member of the Federalist Society, they said.
Then someone popped up with a Federalist Society directory, listing Mr. Roberts as a member of its Washington-area steering committee for 1997-98. Suddenly Mr. Roberts, with a Rovian wiggle, “had no memory” of joining the Federalists. Spokesoids for the society allowed that one need not officially join the secret ranks or pay dues to participate in society activities – or even serve on steering committees.
Another Marx, Julius “Groucho” Marx, said, “I wouldn’t belong to a club that would have me as a member.” Apparently, neither would John Roberts.
In the category of tragedy, rather than farce, Wednesday’s Washington Post reports that the Reagan administration contemplated supporting an attempt by congressional Republicans to take away from the courts jurisdiction over abortion, school prayer and busing. The Post says Mr. Roberts agreed with then-University of Chicago law professor Antonin Scalia that such a power grab was “sloppy law” but worth it if conservatives got the outcome they sought. Sounds like an overture to the Bush v. Gore symphony.
“Is Jersey open?”
In 1963, with the collaboration of the Delaware Highway Patrol, producers for the television program “Candid Camera” set up on the Pennsylvania-Delaware border a sawhorse with a sign on it that said, “Delaware is Closed Today.” A man, dressed in what vaguely looked like a uniform, told drivers Delaware was closed for repairs and that they should come back the following day. The obedient citizens all turned their cars around and drove away. One woman asked, “Is Jersey open?”
That stunt in particular and “Candid Camera” in general relied on the premise that Americans are docile enough to obey any authority, even ridiculous authority.
Wednesday, the New York Times reported that when he was employed by the Reagan Justice Department, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts wrote a memorandum in which he argues that there is no explicit Constitutional basis for the right to travel between states. Although he got the order backward, the conservative lawyer adhered to Karl Marx’s dictum: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
George Bush’s second term is not shaping up to be the victory lap he anticipated. The Iraq quagmire deepens (the number of American war dead will probably hit the patriotic number 1,776 any day), his plan to eviscerate Social Security is dead, the Karl Rove scandal burns out of control and Senate Republicans want to outlaw Pentagon torture protocols.
As the tide is running so strong against Mr. Bush, some people were speculating that perhaps Mr. Roberts’s nomination (“He’s such a nice guy!”) represented some kind of accommodation to reality by the White House. The more I read about Mr. Roberts, the more it is clear reality remains unaccommodated and the more the nominee creeps me out.
When he was 13, Mr. Roberts wrote a high-school admissions officer that he wanted the best education so he could get the best job. High school classmates say he would be upset if he got a grade as low as a 98 or 99. Yeah, that’s the guy I want passing judgment on issues affecting my life.
Perfection, it seems, is not what it used to be. When Mr. Roberts’s nomination was announced, several media outlets reported he is a member of the Federalist Society, a right-leaning legal association that keeps its membership secret. Those media outlets were chastised by the famously accurate White House press office; John Roberts is not, nor has he ever been, a member of the Federalist Society, they said.
Then someone popped up with a Federalist Society directory, listing Mr. Roberts as a member of its Washington-area steering committee for 1997-98. Suddenly Mr. Roberts, with a Rovian wiggle, “had no memory” of joining the Federalists. Spokesoids for the society allowed that one need not officially join the secret ranks or pay dues to participate in society activities – or even serve on steering committees.
Another Marx, Julius “Groucho” Marx, said, “I wouldn’t belong to a club that would have me as a member.” Apparently, neither would John Roberts.
In the category of tragedy, rather than farce, Wednesday’s Washington Post reports that the Reagan administration contemplated supporting an attempt by congressional Republicans to take away from the courts jurisdiction over abortion, school prayer and busing. The Post says Mr. Roberts agreed with then-University of Chicago law professor Antonin Scalia that such a power grab was “sloppy law” but worth it if conservatives got the outcome they sought. Sounds like an overture to the Bush v. Gore symphony.
Strict construction?
Judicial restraint?
Is Jersey open?
For how long?
© Mark Floegel, 2005