JOHN ROBERTS
Text of statement to
Senate Judiciary Committee
September 12,
2005
ROBERTS: Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman, Senator Leahy and members of the committee.
Let me begin by thank Senators
Lugar and Warner and Bayh for their warm and generous introductions. And
let me reiterate my thanks to the president for nominating me.
I'm humbled by his confidence and,
if confirmed, I will do everything I can to be worthy of the high trust
he has placed in me.
Let me also thank you, Mr.
Chairman, and the members of the committee for the many courtesies
you've extended to me and my family over the past eight weeks.
I'm particularly grateful that
members have been so accommodating in meeting with me personally. I have
found those meetings very useful in better understanding the concerns of
the committee as the committee undertakes its constitutional
responsibility of advice and consent.
I know that I would not be here
today were it not for the sacrifices and help over the years of my
family, who you met earlier today, friends, mentors, teachers and
colleagues _ many of whom are here today.
Last week one of those mentors and
friends, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, was laid to rest. I talked
last week with the nurses who helped care for him over the past year,
and I was glad to hear from them that he was not a particularly good
patient. He chafed at the limitations they tried to impose.
His dedication to duty over the
past year was an inspiration to me and, I know, to many others.
I will miss him.
My personal appreciation that I
owe a great debt to others reinforces my view that a certain humility
should characterize the judicial role.
Judges and justices are servants
of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires
don't make the rules; they apply them.
The role of an umpire and a judge
is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules.
But it is a limited role. Nobody
ever went to a ball game to see the umpire.
Judges have to have the humility
to recognize that they operate within a system of precedent, shaped by
other judges equally striving to live up to the judicial oath.
And judges have to have the
modesty to be open in the decisional process to the considered views of
their colleagues on the bench.
Mr. Chairman, when I worked in the
Department of Justice, in the office of the solicitor general, it was my
job to argue cases for the United States before the Supreme court.
I always found it very moving to
stand before the justices and say, "I speak for my country."
But it was after I left the
department and began arguing cases against the United States that I
fully appreciated the importance of the Supreme Court and our
constitutional system.
Here was the United States, the
most powerful entity in the world, aligned against my client. And yet,
all I had to do was convince the court that I was right on the law and
the government was wrong and all that power and might would recede in
deference to the rule of law.
That is a remarkable thing.
It is what we mean when we say
that we are a government of laws and not of men. It is that rule of law
that protects the rights and liberties of all Americans. It is the envy
of the world. Because without the rule of law, any rights are
meaningless.
President Ronald Reagan used to
speak of the Soviet constitution, and he noted that it purported to
grant wonderful rights of all sorts to people. But those rights were
empty promises, because that system did not have an independent
judiciary to uphold the rule of law and enforce those rights. We do,
because of the wisdom of our founders and the sacrifices of our heroes
over the generations to make their vision a reality.
Mr. Chairman, I come before the
committee with no agenda. I have no platform. Judges are not politicians
who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes.
I have no agenda, but I do have a
commitment. If I am confirmed, I will confront every case with an open
mind. I will fully and fairly analyze the legal arguments that are
presented. I will be open to the considered views of my colleagues on
the bench. And I will decide every case based on the record, according
to the rule of law, without fear or favor, to the best of my ability.
And I will remember that it's my job to call balls and strikes and not
to pitch or bat.
Senators Lugar and Bayh talked of
my boyhood back home in Indiana. I think all of us retain, from the days
of our youth, certain enduring images. For me those images are of the
endless fields of Indiana, stretching to the horizon, punctuated only by
an isolated silo or a barn. And as I grew older, those endless fields
came to represent for me the limitless possibilities of our great land.
Growing up, I never imagined that
I would be here, in this historic room, nominated to be the chief
justice. But now that I am here, I recall those endless fields with
their promise of infinite possibilities, and that memory inspires in me
a very profound commitment.
If I am confirmed, I will be
vigilant to protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court,
and I will work to ensure that it upholds the rule of law and safeguards
those liberties that make this land one of endless possibilities for all
Americans.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, members of the
committee.
I look forward to your questions. |
