My first blog. I have been following the Roberts nomination. I was interested in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld when it was handed down on July 15. Interested enough to download the opinion. It was interesting and well written. I put it aside until John Roberts was nominated for the Supreme Court. Roberts? Have I heard of him? Was he involved in Hamdan? I looked at the opinion again. Sure enough, he was one of the judges. Not the senior judge, not one of the opinion writers but one of the judges. Happy coincidence.

Since then I have read a lot of the media stories about him. Just going through today's traffic I came across this story in the Washington Post. "Judge Heard Terrorism Case As He Interviewed For Seat" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601561.html

Paragraph one was an eyeopener. "Judge John G. Roberts Jr. was interviewing for a possible Supreme Court nomination with top Bush administration officials at the same time he was presiding over a terrorism case of significant importance to President Bush."

Let us leave aside the obvious error that the interviews did not take place during the court proceedings. It is only hyperbole to say the interviews and the court case were at the same time. What is far more egregious is to say that Roberts presided. He was present, a part of the court panel, but he did not preside. I wonder how Senior Judge Williams feels about his sudden demotion at the hands of the Washington Post.