Documents Reveal Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts Disparaged Anti-Discrimination Efforts

Interview with Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, conducted by Scott Harris

As the U.S. Senate prepares to conduct confirmation hearings this September on John Roberts, President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, thousands of documents have been released from Robert's tenure as an attorney working in President Reagan's White House counsel's office from 1982 to 1986. But the Bush administration continues to block the release of more recent documents from the period when Roberts served as deputy solicitor general under the president's father from 1989 to 1993.

Among the papers released by the government and the Reagan library was an internal memo that showed Roberts had less than a supportive view of efforts to combat discrimination against women. In 1985 he asked "whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good." In another memo, Roberts labeled measures to require employers to provide men and women with equal pay for equal work as "staggeringly pernicious and anti- capitalist."

Along with Robert's unsettling views on women's rights, there is growing concern among pro-choice groups on the nominee's hostility toward the right to privacy and reproductive rights. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, who assesses the known record of John Roberts, who if confirmed by the Senate, would replace retiring moderate Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Call NOW at (202) 628-8669 or visit their website at www.now.org

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