The Daily Howler - 09/14/05

HIJACKING RICE! Mr. O gets a chance to cut through the spin when he interviews Condi tonight: // link // print // previous // next //

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2005

HOMER ON KELO: Over the course of the past seven years, we have increasingly come to see that Homer pretty much got it right. He had the gods looking down on us mortals, chuckling at our reliable clowning. And yes, we thought of the poet this morning when we heard John Roberts testify further. Sam Brownback asked Roberts about the Kelo decision. The Post’s live blog records what we heard:

POST BLOG (9/14/05): Roberts yesterday had said he did not want to comment on potential future cases. In refraining to give his views about Kelo, he used a somewhat different approach, saying because the case "was just decided last year," he wasn't going to discuss it.

"If the issue does come back before the court, " Roberts said, "I need to address it without previously commenting on it."

But why does he need to do that? Every current sitting justice has “previously commented” on the issue in Kelo; indeed, they wrote the decisions on Kelo this year! All of them have “previously commented”—so why does Roberts “need” to be different? There may even be an answer to that. But our public discussion is so crabbed that the question will never be asked.