Some interesting (and hopeful?) news has surfaced about Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. Roberts worked behind the scenes on Romer v. Evans, a 1996 case that went before the Supreme Court and (6-3) struck down a Colorado initiative that would have allowed employers and landlords to discriminate against gays. The case was one of the first important legal victories for gay rights.
Roberts did not write the legal briefs or argue the case but reviewed filings and prepared oral arguments on behalf of the lawyers working to fight the initiative.
“Roberts’ work on behalf of gay activists, whose cause is anathema to many conservatives, appears to illustrate his allegiance to the credo of the legal profession: to zealously represent the interests of the client, whoever it might be.”
The three dissenting justices in the case, Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist, had written in the dissent, “Coloradans are entitled to be hostile toward homosexual conduct.”