What Did Roberts Do in Florida?

News Dissector Blog - September 29, 2005

[...] Specifically, what role did [Judge John] Roberts play in the Bush campaign in 2000 in Florida, where 175,000 votes went uncounted? Was he part of the obstruction of the recount that was carried out by a small brigade of militant GOP protesters who had been organized by the just-indicted House GOP minority leader Tom DeLay? DeLay was known for "bare knuckles" politics that often "skirted the ethical edge," according to the Associated Press.

We know that Roberts, who has been pictured as a moderate-tempered and restrained jurist, was in Florida in 2000 as part of the GOP hit squad that planned to get President Bush elected at all costs.

That decisive protest run by intensely partisan GOP staffers and Congressional aides was ordered by hard right-wing Republican Congressman John Sweeney to "shut it down," according to the Miami Herald's reporter. There were reports that UN Ambassador John Bolton was in that mob.

Was Roberts there too? If he was, if he was part of that action faction/affinity group, then his image as a man of detached and scholarly calm needs a second look. If he wasn't, what exactly did he do in a campaign characterized by disenfranchisement and dirty tricks?

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