Where is Jerry Seinfeld when you need him?
CNN.com – Roberts documents reveal a conservative – Jul 27, 2005
Limiting Supreme Court’s reach
Roberts argued that Congress had the power to limit the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction on controversial issues, like abortion, busing and school prayer — but advised that doing so would be “bad policy,” according to recently released memos.
A document dated April 12, 1982 shows that Roberts disagreed with the view of then-Assistant Attorney General Ted Olson that Republican legislation in Congress to limit such jurisdiction faced constitutional problems.
The Justice Department later sent a letter to the Senate and House Judiciary committees, concluding that Congress not curtail the high court’s jurisdiction, the documents show.
Three years later, in a memo to his boss in the White House counsel’s office, Fred Fielding, Roberts would still argue that the Senate bill to stop the Supreme Court from hearing challenges to voluntary school prayer laws was constitutional.
But he also advised that the Justice Department not reverse course and to “let sleeping dogs (an apt reference, given my view of the opinion) lie,” he wrote.