What Is The Bush White House Trying To Hide On Roberts' Time Working For Poppy?
by Steve
On another matter, let’s get caught up on the Roberts’ Supreme Court confirmation battle.
First, the White House said that they would release some of Roberts’ papers and opinions from his time as a Reagan White House counsel and earlier time in the AG’s office. But the White House has drawn a line in the sand and said that documents from Roberts’s time as Deputy Solicitor General under Poppy Bush will not be released. And whom did Roberts work for those four years? That’s right, Ken Starr. And what might be one thing that the Bush White House wants to keep secret from those days? Well, how about the work that Roberts may have done in advising Poppy about the self-serving pardons Bush eventually gave to Cap Weinberger, Bob McFarlane, Elliott Abrams, John Poindexter and others over Iran-Contra. These pardons allowed Bush himself to escape responsibility for lying to Congress and Lawrence Walsh about his role in Iran-Contra.
Unfortunately for the right wing, in order for them to claim that the Executive Branch can apply an attorney-client privilege to the work that Roberts did for Poppy Bush in the Solicitor General’s office, they would also have to eat their victory against the Clinton Administration on the same issue. You see, when the shoe was on the other foot, it was the same right-wingers who won a court case against the White House by getting an appeals court to agree that attorney-client privilege didn’t exist for Hillary Clinton. And Orrin Hatch among others lauded it then and wants a double standard now.
Second, there has been talk that the political activities of Roberts’ wife should be considered as well, given her out-front work against a woman’s right to choose. Both sides seem to now agree that focusing on the views and activities of a wife are out of bounds here, but these same conservatives didn’t think so when it involved Hillary Clinton.
Lastly, why is it so hard for Scott McClellan to admit that Roberts was in fact a member of the Federalist Society?
Simply put, although I had given Roberts a pass last week, the White House’s actions since his nomination make him look guilty of something, and seemingly make it a crime to be a member of the Federalist Society. So even though the GOP wants Roberts to be rushed through to confirmation, their actions make it less likely that this will happen. What exactly is the Bush White House trying to hide from Roberts’ time working for Bush’s dad?