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September 20, 2005
A Lawyer’s Chief Justice
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Cass Sunstein is a Karl N. Llewellyn distinguished service professor of jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School and is the author of "Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America," which will be published in August. |
In brief, I have high hopes for Chief Justice Roberts. He’s both excellent and modest -- two wonderful attributes.
My hope is that he’ll be a lawyers’ Chief Justice, in the sense that he’ll be exceedingly careful and honest with legal doctrine. I also suspect that in many ways he’ll work well with Justice Breyer, who is similarly excellent, not very ideological, and pragmatic.
To be sure, it’s possible that he’ll surprise us, for the worse. (Who would have suspected the constellation of views that we’ve seen from Justice Thomas?) But there’s a good chance that he’ll combine quality and character with judgment as well.
Posted at September 20, 2005 11:25 AM