ConfirmThem

By Marshall Manson Posted in Judiciary Committee — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Professor Ronald Rotunda is a leading authority on legal ethics and constitutional law. He has written a 15-page letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter that thoroughly destroys any contention that Judge Roberts somehow committed an ethical breech by participating in the decision in the Hamdan case.

Here's the expert's conclusion:

Past practice of other judges who have accepted or considered appointment for other offices, including past practice of Judge Roberts’ predecessors on the D.C. Circuit, demonstrates that he did not violate 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) [the rule that the Left has alleged Roberts violated].

UPDATE: A second legal ethics expert, Professor Thomas Morgan, has also written a letter on this subject. His conclusion:

In short, in my opinion, no reasonable observer can “reasonably question� the propriety of Judge Roberts’ conduct in hearing the Hamdan case. He clearly did not violate 28 U.S.C. §455. Indeed, he did what we should hope judges will do; he did his job. He participated in the decision of a case randomly assigned to him. We should honor him, not criticize him, for doing so.

(Hat tip, Blogs for Bush)

UPDATE II: Johnathan Adler has a post up on this topic over at Bench Memos.