JURIST - Paper Chase: Roberts finishes preparations for confirmation hearings

[JURIST] US Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] has completed the last of ten practice sessions held to prepare him for his confirmation hearings, set to begin next week. The grueling sessions, which have been dubbed "murder boards," involved Roberts answering questions from over a dozen administration lawyers and officials who played the parts of Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] members, including US Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA). Questions were pulled from senators' public statements and included topics such as the right to privacy, the Ten Commandments, civil rights, and the Supreme Court's reasoning in Planned Parenthood v. Casey [opinion], which upheld the landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade. Administration officials have refused to release information on how Roberts performed, but former associate White House counsel H. Christopher Bartolomucci said, "He's not beaten down and ready to go." Read US Senator Charles Schumer's [D-NY] list of questions [text] for Roberts' nomination hearings. Thursday's New York Times has more.

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