The Minneapolis Star-Tribune argues that the Senate deserves to see SCOTUS nominee John Roberts’ papers from “the years Roberts worked as the top appointee below Solicitor General Ken Starr.”
The Star-Tribune’s editorial also serves to rebut the odd claim by an August 4 WaPo editorial that “turning over the material could establish the precedent that confidential attorney-client material becomes fair game whenever senators are curious to know what a particular nominee thought on a particular issue”:
[Everyone] should also remember — and remind the White House — that Starr pretty much made it impossible to argue that release of Roberts’ writings from that period would violate attorney-client privilege, which is one of the legal stratagems being suggested for withholding the relevant materials from the Senate. … MORE BELOW:
When Starr wanted materials the Clinton White House sought to withhold, on the same grounds, Starr argued in court that the solicitor general works for the people of the United States, not the White House. A U.S. appeals court agreed with him.
Why is Roberts’ time at the solicitor general’s office important? Because it is there that legal scholarship and reasoning are undertaken to formulate the case the United States will make before the Supreme Court on important cases. Since Roberts was involved in a number of the most important ones, his writings could shed light on what sort of justice he will make.
In addition to having an appeals court against them, the White House also must contend with difficult precedents from the confirmation proceedings of Robert Bork, among others. Bork’s papers from his time at the solicitor general’s office were released.
During the Bork period, the Senate acted like a Senate, rather than like an appendage of the White House political machine; both Democrats and Republicans demanded to see the documents they needed to do their job. Today, it is questionable whether the Republican leadership would even let Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter mount a substantial challenge to get the Roberts documents. Such is the partisan time in which we live. But if Specter takes a bye on this fight, Democrats on the committee must follow through.
— Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial.