Cass Sunstein Quotes on Facts (4 Quotes)

At the same time, there is a growing pile of tidbits, in Roberts' opinions and in the Reagan-era documents dribbling out of the White House, that indicates he has strongly held and far-right views on major frontsabortion, religion, and executive power. There's ammunition for principled opposition to be mined here. But the key attribute Roberts lacks from the point of view of the legal liberals, at least on the record, is an overarching, burn-the-house-down judicial philosophy. As a result, proponents of judicial restraintan approach to the law that's become as fashionable among liberals as conservativesare eager to embrace him as one of their own. Leftish advocates of restraint celebrate justices who don't reach out beyond the facts of a case to decide more than they need to and who respect existing Supreme Court precedent. They wrinkle their noses at justices who overtly seek to impose a rightward agenda (Antonin Scalia) and are willing to jettison past decisions to do it (Clarence Thomas). Roberts has never declared himself one of the bad guys, Sunstein pointed out hopefully in a recent piece in the New Republic . Instead he has styled himself as deliberate, lawyerly, process-oriented. His opinions on the D. C. Circuit court of appeals avoid broad pronouncements, ... They do not try to reorient the law.

On the facts thus far, the president has a decent argument that he acted lawfully. There's also a decent argument that he didn't. But if the president has a decent argument, he can't be impeached for getting it wrong.

He's one of the most interesting senators of our time. The fact that the right was so concerned about him as head of the Judiciary Committee made many people think he'd be very careful in scrutinizing Bush's appointees. But I guess he has proved unpredictable once again.

Roberts' dissent is a pretty big deal, ... The fact that he was willing to challenge the Endangered Species Act as a brand-new judge, when lots of his Republican colleagues went the other way, indicates that he really wanted to make a statement.