[Mb-civic] Nominee Excelled as an Advocate Before Court - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Nominee Excelled as an Advocate Before Court

Roberts Is Noted For His Preparation And Persuasiveness

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 24, 2005; Page A05

On a Friday in October 1990, the Justice Department got some bad news 
from the clerk of the Supreme Court: The justices had disqualified a 
young assistant solicitor general scheduled to argue a highly technical 
bankruptcy case the next Monday.

For a replacement, Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr tapped his 
35-year-old principal deputy, John G. Roberts Jr. Roberts spent the 
weekend on the case, came to the court Monday morning and fielded 
questions from the justices for the government's allotted 10 minutes.

Then, in the afternoon, he went to the second-most-powerful court in 
town, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and argued another 
case -- a complicated financial dispute between the Environmental 
Protection Agency, which Roberts represented, and the water authority of 
Rochester, N.Y.

Roberts's side won both cases.

<>It is a story lawyers who practice before the Supreme Court tell with 
palpable awe. It illustrates why so many of them believe that Roberts is 
among the best in their profession -- and why they believe that his 
qualities would serve him well on the other side of the bench.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/23/AR2005072300881.html?nav=hcmodule 

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