Topic: Civil Rights
Senator: Schumer
Date: SEPTEMBER 13, 2005
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SCHUMER: Now as I said, there are a few things that I think that many of us were pleasantly surprised about. There are some that we are troubled about.
I think you've answered some questions, but not answered a whole lot of others. And I'm going to get into that at another point.
But I do find it very perplexing -- and I'm not going to ask you to comment on this -- your use of the so-called Ginsburg precedent. It seems you cite it when you don't want to answer something. But a few times here when Ginsburg had actually answered those specific questions, you didn't want to answer them and you ignored the precedent. And I don't think that's what precedents are, even in this more unique role.
So I hope you'll think about that overnight because I'll get back to that tomorrow.
The other thing that troubled me was the issue of civil rights. Many of us consider racism the nation's poison. De Tocqueville wrote about that since 1832. And we know you wrote these series of memos 20 to 25 years ago. Some of them are written in a tone that suggest you may have been insensitive to discrimination and hostile to equal rights.
SCHUMER: And I've talked to people who might have felt just that. People have said that.
So my question is not the substance, but do you regret the tone of some of these memos? Do you regret some of the inartful phrases you used in those memos, a reference to illegal amigos in one memo?
ROBERTS: Senator, in that particular memo, for example, it was a play on the standard practice of many politicians, including President Reagan. When he was talking to a Hispanic audience he would throw in some language in Spanish.
Again, the memos were from me to Fred Fielding. I think Mr. Fielding always found the tone...
SCHUMER: Don't regret using that term? Could you think that some people might have found it offensive?
ROBERTS: It was meant to convey the notion, again, as I described, that when politicians speak to a particular audience in that language, is that offensive to the audience? It was meant to convey that. It was an issue concerning a particular radio interview.
You know, the tone was, I think, generally appropriate for a memo from me to Mr. Fielding, and I know that he never suggested that it was anything other than appropriate.
SCHUMER: I'd have to disagree with you, but we'll leave it at that.
On a more substantive level, in light of where we are in 2005, admittedly we've progress in civil rights since 1982, can you identify any policy or piece of legislation you argued for or supported in the Reagan era that you now believe went too far, that you now believe would not be good enough for America?
I'm not challenging that you were representing somebody else then, as you've said to us before, but I'm asking, in hindsight, it's now 2005, you're almost double the years on this earth, any of those policies that you think now, using hindsight, shouldn't have been done?
ROBERTS: Senator, I think some 80,000 pages have been released of memoranda that I wrote.
SCHUMER: You can just pick one or two.
ROBERTS: You know, I have not gone back and reevaluated all those policies, no. I do know, though, for example, in the area of civil rights people have talked about memos I wrote about the administration's policy against busing or the administration's policy against quotas.
Being against busing and being against quotas is not the same as being against civil rights. President Reagan was against busing, President Reagan was against quotas, but he was in favor of civil rights and that was the administration position that I was advancing in those memoranda.
SCHUMER: I understand you were advancing someone else's position, I was asking your own view if there are any regrets or changes in viewpoint of you personally.
SCHUMER: But we'll leave it at that if you don't want to mention any.
OK.
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