Morning copy 7/27/2005

In today's morning news, there's much discussion about documents.

The media and no-doubt Senate staffers have begun to pour over 14,000 pages.

Do not miss the mind boggling by line in The Chicago Tribune today, nor the story:

In an undated memo from the documents released Tuesday, Roberts cited "what is broadly perceived to be the unprincipled jurisprudence of Roe v. Wade," the landmark case establishing the constitutional right to an abortion. But given the way the memo is written, it is possible he is attributing that view to a group of scholars.

Roberts spent a significant amount of time, the documents suggest, grappling with calls on Capitol Hill to curtail the power of the Supreme Court in the wake of liberal rulings on busing, school prayer and abortion. Chicago Tribune LINK.

And as for that byline:

By Jill Zuckman and Sam Singer, Washington Bureau. Jan Crawford Greenburg, Naftali Bendavid, Andrew Zajac, Mike Dorning, Kenneth Bredemeier and William Neikirk of the Washington Bureau contributed to

Common theme of 'judicial restraint' found in The Washington Post:

On June 15, 1982, Roberts faulted the Justice Department for the outcome in Plyler v. Doe , in which the Supreme Court overturned a Texas law that had allowed school districts to deny enrollment to children who had entered the country illegally.

Roberts argued that if the solicitor general's office had taken a position in the case supporting the state of Texas "and the values of judicial restraint," it could have "altered the outcome of the case." Washington Post LINK.

Visions of things to come from The Boston Globe:

"The approach was to avoid giving specific responses to any direct questions on legal issues likely to come before the Court, but demonstrating in the response a firm command of the subject area and awareness of the relevant precedents and arguments," Roberts wrote in one memo describing the mock questioning sessions he held with her. Boston.com LINK.

What is absent in this document blizzard ledes the LA Times:

It is not clear whether Roberts, deputy solicitor general from 1989 to 1993, agreed with the administration's position in the abortion cases. But the White House, arguing the information is privileged, made it clear Tuesday that it did not want to reveal what he said or wrote during those years.

"What we are providing goes above and beyond what a reasonable person would expect to be made available," said President Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan. "This is more than what senators need to be able to do their job." LA Times LINK.

Strict constructionism in the NY Times account:

In one handwritten memorandum, Judge Roberts suggested his view of how the Constitution should be interpreted, saying, "real courage would be to read the Constitution as it should be read," without attention to what outside commentators were writing. NY Times LINK.

Prior release of Roberts' documents, showing a humorous side, in the Reagan library, NY Times story:

The papers here show that in August 1983, Mr. Roberts was asked to draft a response to a letter to Mr. Reagan from a college professor who feared he might land on an alleged United States Information Agency blacklist for lodging a complaint about the agency. Mr. Roberts, in a memorandum to his boss, Fred F. Fielding, the White House counsel, noted in an aside, "Once you let the word out there's a blacklist, everybody wants to get on."

There was also the time he offered a snide analysis, in an internal White House memorandum, of a proposal from a member of the House, Elliott H. Levitas. After the Supreme Court struck down efforts by Congress to veto actions taken by the executive branch, Mr. Levitas, a Democrat from Georgia, proposed that the White House and Congress convene a "conference on power-sharing" to codify the duties of each branch of government. NY Times LINK.

The USA Today says that little is revealed in these documents, and then has Bullet Points! Surprise, surprise. USA Today LINK.

The next document in the news is the Iraqi constitution, linking Islam and the law.

From The Middle East Times, LINK.:

The government mouthpiece, Al Sabah, published what it described as an early draft of the proposed constitution, which specifies that: "Islam is the official religion of the State" and "the main source of legislation".

"No law that contradicts the universally agreed tenets of Islam may be enacted," specifies the draft text, which is still under discussion.

The draft's article 11 asserts that "fundamentalist" and "terrorist" ideology will be banned, along with Saddam's Baath party.

More on Iraq:

US concerns over Iraqi charter: LA Times LINK.

Significant draw-down of troops possible in Iraq by spring. Washington Post LINK. Boston.com LINK. And from the BBC: "Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has called for US troops to leave the country soon, but added no timetable had been set for withdrawal." BBC News LINK.

Kurds vow to push for a Kurdish federal state. Boston.com LINK.

Rumsfeld says Iraq must make a tougher stand against interventions allowed by Iran and Syria. al Jazeera LINK.

Army one-year deferred recruiting lagging behind. USA Today LINK.

More on Paul Hackett. Democrat, Marine Vet, from Ohio. NY Times LINK.

More links...

Senator Clinton's move to the center angers the Left. Washington Post LINK.
Perhaps the Left should look at the score cards for the House, Senate, White House and the Court.

The odd, broad net of Patrick Fitzgerald.

Washington Post's Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei report testimony from myriad sources in policy, intelligence, street vendors and jailed journalists. LINK.

And Ari Fleischer in the NY Times (LINK.):

The prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, called Mr. Fleischer to appear before the grand jury that is investigating the leak.

One person familiar with Mr. Fleischer's testimony said he told the grand jury that he was not Mr. Novak's source. And Mr. Fleischer, who was never shy about championing his Republican bosses, seems not to fit Mr. Novak's description, in a subsequent column, of his primary source as "no partisan gunslinger."

DeLay and thw West Virginian who owns him...

Bloomberg.com story (LINK.):

The ethics committee is the only one in the House that is evenly divided between the political parties, giving Mollohan, 62, unusual power. He has used it to force Republicans, who hold a 231-202 majority, to retreat on efforts to change the rules for probes of lawmakers' behavior and to install a Republican party loyalist in the traditionally non-partisan job of staff director.

Four arrests, perhaps one the bomber, in Britain. Reuters LINK.

Microsoft's mapping service neglects, uh, 11 major buildings in Apple's impressive home offices. Huh. Washington Times/AP Link.