Last week the best—selling author and queen of anti—liberalism, Ann Coulter, wrote an article about the recent nomination by President Bush of Appeals Court Judge John G. Roberts Jr. that has since caused many conservatives to get downright snippy toward her, and I can't for the life of me figure out why.

In her column, titled "Souter In Roberts' Clothing", Ms. Coulter relates, in that cleverly acerbic style I've come to know and love, that all we really know about Roberts is that he's a "white male", and therefore, "he can't dance and he probably doesn't know who Jay—Z is."

She goes onto state that "other than that, he is a blank slate," and aside from the mildly insulting stereotype she uses in her piece (I'll have you know that some of us white guys are perfectly capable of gettin' jiggy wid it) I would have to agree with her.

While Judge Roberts comes across as a clean—cut, mild—mannered gentleman, with a sharp mind, an extensive background in the practice of law, and solid affiliations with past Republican administrations, those facts don't afford me an answer to the single most important question I have on my mind at this moment, which is: does Judge Roberts embrace an originalist view of interpreting the U.S. Constitution?

As Ann (if I may be so bold as to call her Ann) rightly points out, "stealth nominees have never turned out to be a pleasant surprise for conservatives," and any in—depth review of the available evidence clearly supports her claim. Indeed, of the seven Republican—nominated justices who currently occupy the Supreme Court bench, only three of them adhere to the judicial philosophy which was once the orthodoxy (and not that long ago) among high court jurists. That philosophical approach is born of the understanding that one need attempt to grasp the original meaning of the text within our Constitution. That is to say that it is a judge's job to try and figure out what the authors of that document meant by their words when they wrote them.

Like Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the majority of so—called conservative judges on the court do not adhere to that particular judicial philosophy, and it seems more than a little coincidental to me that none of them were outspoken originalists at the time they were confirmed.

Once again Ann Coulter has managed to overcome her natural blondness (hey, cheap shots beget cheap shots) and expose to the light of day something that few others of my ideological persuasion seem to want to face, which is that George W. Bush, for all his good intentions, may not know any more about Judge Roberts' approach to jurisprudence than you or I. And what you and I know about him, unless you happen to be a close, personal friend of the man, is that he seems like a decent enough fellow.

Well my friends, I'm afraid that's just not enough for me to endorse Judge Roberts for a seat of the highest federal court in the land at this time. I suppose I could go into detail about the pertinent facts I've found concerning his personal history and professional accomplishments, but those few things have already been touched upon by the ever—plucky Ms. Coulter in her article, so I'll not bother reiterating them here. I'll simply refer you to this link I've provided below to her thoughtful scribblings on the matter, and let her leg work do the talking for me.

After all, if I can't take advantage of someone else's hard work from time to time, how can I ever hope to get a job writing for the New York Times?

But I digress.

Although I have a very limited idea of who Judge Roberts actually is, and cannot begin to enlighten you as to whom he will be once he dons the black robe of a Supreme Court Justice, what I will tell you is that I pray Ann Coulter is completely wrong in her suspicions, and that Judge Roberts proves himself worthy of the title which he shall almost certainly claim in the months to come.

If there's one thing my fellow conservative writer got right beyond any doubt in her latest piece, it's that we don't need another Judge Souter plaguing our lives and threatening future generations of Americans with the fascist intent of those who believe in a "living, breathing Constitution."

God bless you Ann Coulter. You've got guts, and in my opinion, guts beats party politics every time.

Edward Daley  7 26 05

Edward L. Daley is the owner of the Daley Times—Post