Former Bush Administration Official John C. Yoo Raises Concerns About John G. Roberts

From the Washington Post:

John C. Yoo, a conservative professor of law at University of California at Berkeley who served in the Justice Department in the current administration, emphasizes what he called Roberts's traditional approach to the law. In the 39 cases that Roberts argued before the Supreme Court -- 25 of which he won -- Yoo said he never pushed the court to adopt "big new theories" but rather argued the facts of his cases.

"He's the type of person that business conservatives and judicial-restraint conservatives will like but the social conservatives may not like," Yoo said.

"What the social conservatives want is someone who will overturn Roe. v. Wade and change the court's direction on privacy," he added. "But he represents the Washington establishment. These Washington establishment people are not revolutionaries, and they're not out to shake up constitutional law. They might make course corrections, but they're not trying to sail the boat to a different port."

(emphasis added)

My Comments:
I remain cautiously optimistic about this nomination, but these words from a conservative former employee of the Justice Department do give me cause for concern.

What good does it do to have a "strict constructionist" or an "originalist" who is unwilling to "overturn Roe v. Wade and change the court's direction on privacy"? As someone posted yesterday on Southern Appeal, it's like hiring the most brilliant mathemetician in the world only to find out that he insists 2+2=6. By definition, that person would not be a brilliant mathemetician.

In the same way, a "stict constructionist" or "originalist" who is unwilling to overturn Roe v. Wade is by definition NOT a "strict constructionist" or "originalist".