Arthur Silber: Rutten Gets It Wrong On Roberts

August 20th, 2005

Tim Rutten, who often gets it right on media and related matters, gets it badly wrong in this column:

So far, the American news media’s debate and commentary on the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr.’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court has produced more red herrings than a fish market fire.

None of these smells worse than the attempts at both ends of the ideological spectrum to make an issue of the nominee’s Roman Catholicism. On the right are various evangelical activists and cultural conservatives who insist that any objection to Roberts’ confirmation or mention of his Roman Catholicism amounts to religious bigotry and the imposition of a constitutionally prohibited “religious test” for office. On the other side are various left-wing special-interest groups who seem to be arguing that his faith precludes any independent thought on his part.