Charles Schumer Roberts Quotations

Now we must take the evidence we have and try to answer the fundamental question: What kind of justice will John Roberts be?

Certainly the attention of the 18 people who will do the questioning will not be diverted, ... One of the major, if not the major, worry many of us have about Judge Roberts is, does he believe in curtailing federal government power? And if there were ever a strong argument, a devastating argument in a very real sense, for strong federal government power, Hurricane Katrina made it.

Given the even greater importance of this new position, we hope the White House will reconsider its refusal to release relevant and important documents that will shed light on what kind of Chief Justice Judge Roberts would become.

Roberts set an awfully high bar in terms of intellect and ability to answer questions, which is going to be awfully hard for the next nominee to match,

Judge Roberts should explain as soon as possible why he thought it was appropriate for him to continue hearing this case,

Judge Roberts has a clear obligation to make his views known fully and completely at the hearings and we look forward to them.

What kind of justice will John Roberts be?

You have to wait and see how Judge Roberts answers questions, ... He has to tell us who he is, judicially speaking. Americans overwhelmingly want to know his views.

You have to wait and see how Judge Roberts answers questions.

At the hearings, I gave Judge Roberts every opportunity to distance himself from Justice Thomas's most extreme views, ... He refused.

The signal to President Bush, whether you voted no or yes: Please send us a moderate, but if you send someone who is very ideological there'll be a much bigger fight than on Roberts because this is for the O'Connor seat and that's the swing vote on the court.

As we approach the hearings, rather than feel confident that we will hear candid answers to critical questions about judicial philosophy, I am concerned that the stage is being set for Judge Roberts to refuse to answer,

If Judge Roberts repeatedly resorts to the so-called 'Ginsburg Precedent,' it will sound less like a principled refusal to answer and more like a variation on the Fifth Amendment: 'I refuse to answer that question on the ground that it may incriminate me. Answering may reveal my actual views about constitutional law and cause me to lose votes,'

The echoes of then-Judge Thomas's empty reassurances that he was a mainstream jurist are ringing in the ears of every senator who listened to many nearly identical statements from Judge Roberts last week,