A federal appeals court yesterday backed the president's power to indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil without any criminal charges, holding that such authority is vital during wartime to protect the nation from terrorist attacks.

Early in yesterday's hearing into his nomination to be chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr. took the Senate Judiciary Committee in an unexpected direction, praising Justice Robert H. Jackson, who served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's attorney general before joining the high court.

By Jo Becker
September 8, 2005
Washington Post

In 1990, the Federal Communications Commission asked the first Bush administration to defend a policy aimed at encouraging more minority ownership of broadcast stations. As the number two man in the solicitor general's office, John G. Roberts Jr. played a critical role in the government's decision to reject the request, according to documents that came to light yesterday.

By Charles Lane
September 5, 2005
Washington Post

As a young lawyer in Phoenix in 1957, William Hubbs Rehnquist declared a personal war of sorts against the Supreme Court, then headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren.

By Peter Baker
September 6, 2005
Washington Post

President Bush nominated John G. Roberts Jr. yesterday as the 17th chief justice of the United States, promoting his nominee for associate justice to lead the Supreme Court and the rest of the federal judiciary even before Roberts was confirmed for the first assignment.

William Hubbs Rehnquist, the 16th chief justice of the United States, died last night at his home in Arlington. He was 80.

A group of lawyers added their voices yesterday to complaints earlier this week from various advocacy organizations about the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to serve on the Supreme Court, alleging in a joint letter that Roberts lacks appreciation for "the important role that an independent judiciary plays in safeguarding individual rights and enforcing legal protections."

Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. advised the Reagan administration's attorney general that "it makes eminent sense" to seek legislation permanently barring the use of employment quotas to redress discrimination and prohibiting the busing of students to foster the integration of schools, according to newly disclosed archival documents.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 - It is not every day that a Supreme Court justice calls his own decisions unwise. But with unusual candor, Justice John Paul Stevens did that last week in a speech in which he explored the gap that sometimes lies between a judge's desire and duty.

August 26, 2005
http://www.FactCheck.org

Summary
NARAL Pro-Choice America announced it would start running a new ad to replace one that it yanked off the air Aug. 11 after widespread criticism.

Unlike the first ad, which falsely implied that Roberts had excused bombing of abortion clinics, this one mostly gets it right.