Judge-ment Day

Last week, President Bush nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court of the United States. I think he managed to dissapoint both the far right and far left and made a pretty good choice, all things considered. (Both sides seemed to be somewhat looking forward to a good brawl played out on cable news stations and I think that is part of the dissapointment).
I'm a pretty liberal person, in general, I think. I don't really want to see Roe vs. Wade overturned and generally fall on the 'left'ish side of things that come before the court but what you have to remember is that Bush was elected not once, but twice being pretty much open about his pro-life stance and although he didn't say it, it was pretty clear he wanted a pro-life judgeship. OK, maybe he was only elected once but whatever, you know I mean.
This guy is a solid upstanding citizen. Top of his class at Harvard and, by all accounts, a good person. I haven't heard a word to the contrary.
Yes, he is a 'conservative' in that he reads to the letter of the law in most cases - but he doesn't seem like an unreasonable idealogue. Many of the things liberals are going to throw at him will be stances he took when he was working for the solicitor general, so he was really voicing someone else's opinion. He also said in his confirmation hearings for his judgeship he now holds that he accepts Roe vs. Wade as the 'law of the land' or something to that effect. He doesn't really seem to blindly follow an agenda, he seems to really think about each case and take rulings seriously. Not like a Scalia, who is a 'strict constructionist' except not always.
I guess I think he seems like a conservative, thoughtful, good person and that's not really a reason to deny him a place on the court if nominated by the President who, quite frankly, probably would have gotten away with a more right wing person. Also, I hear mad people on the left complaining that they don't know enough about this guy but that also means people on the right don't either. It's a bit of a risk that Bush is taking because if he ends up voting, say, to uphold Roe vs. Wade (which, in the Casey case, by the way was upheld with a 6-3 vote anyway), Bush's right wing constituents are going to go apeshit and Bush can kiss his spot on Mount Rushmore in 2058 goodbye. I mean, if he hasn't totally made up his mind on some issues that's a good thing. There are 'activist' judges on both sides of the spectrum but he doesn't seem to be one.
Roberts should undergo some grilling and then be passed by the vast majority of Senators. To filibuster would be ludicrous. I applaud President Bush for finding an option that won't divide the country, (for once).