J G Roberts Popular Books

J G Roberts Biography & Facts

John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. He has been described as having a moderate conservative judicial philosophy, though he is primarily an institutionalist. For his willingness to work with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc, Roberts has been regarded as a swing vote on the U.S. Supreme Court. Roberts grew up in Northwest Indiana and was educated in a series of Catholic schools. He studied at Harvard University with the initial intent to become a historian, graduating in three years with highest distinction. He attended Harvard Law School afterwards, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and served as a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly and Justice William Rehnquist before taking a position in the Reagan administration. He also served under the senior Bush administration in the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of the White House Counsel, during which time he was nominated by George H. W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but no vote on his nomination was held. For 14 years, Roberts was in private practice and argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court. Notably, he represented 19 states in United States v. Microsoft Corp. President George W. Bush appointed Roberts as an appellate judge of the D.C. Circuit in 2003. During his two-year tenure on the D.C. Circuit, Roberts authored 49 opinions, eliciting two dissents from other judges, and authoring three dissents of his own. In 2005, Bush nominated Roberts to the Supreme Court, initially to be an associate justice to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Chief Justice William Rehnquist died shortly afterward, however, before Roberts's Senate confirmation hearings had begun. Bush then withdrew Roberts's nomination and instead nominated him to become Chief Justice, choosing Samuel Alito to replace O'Connor. Roberts has authored majority opinions in many important cases, including decisions relating to elections, federal agencies, presidential power, the Affordable Care Act, and race-based college admissions. Early life and education Roberts was born on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York, to Rosemary (née Podrasky; 1929–2019) and John Glover "Jack" Roberts Sr. (1928–2008). His father had Irish and Welsh ancestry and his mother was a descendant of Slovak immigrants from Szepes, Hungary. He has an elder sister, Kathy, and two younger sisters: Peggy and Barbara. Roberts spent his early childhood years in Hamburg, New York, where his father worked as an electrical engineer for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at its factory in Lackawanna. In 1965, ten-year-old Roberts and his family moved to Long Beach, Indiana, where his father became manager of a new steel plant in nearby Burns Harbor. Roberts attended the new La Lumiere School, an academically rigorous Catholic boarding school in La Porte, Indiana, where he captained the school's football team. Roberts additionally participated in track and field and was a regional champion in wrestling. He also participated in choir and drama, and was a co-editor of the school newspaper. He graduated in 1973 as class valedictorian, becoming the first graduate of the La Lumiere School to enroll at Harvard University. At Harvard College, Roberts dedicated himself to studying history, his academic major. He had entered Harvard as a sophomore with second-year standing based on his academic achievements in high school. Roberts first roomed in Straus Hall before moving to Leverett House. Every summer, he returned home to earn money working at the steel plant his father managed. Although he initially felt obscured among other students, Roberts distinguished himself with professors, meriting multiple distinctions for his scholarly writing. He gained a reputation as a serious student who valued formalism. Every Sunday, he attended Catholic mass at St. Paul Church. Roberts focused on modern European history and maintained an interest in politics. As an undergraduate, he excelled academically. In his first year, he won the university's Edwards Whitaker Scholarship for outstanding scholastic achievement. He intended to pursue a Ph.D. in history to be a professor but also contemplated a legal career. One of Roberts' first papers, titled "Marxism and Bolshevism: Theory and Practice," attained Harvard's William Scott Ferguson Prize for the most outstanding essay by a sophomore history major. An early interest in oral advocacy led him to later study statesman Daniel Webster, a prominent advocate before the Supreme Court. His senior year paper, "The Utopian Conservative: A Study of Continuity and Change in the Thought of Daniel Webster," won a prestigious Bowdoin Prize. In 1976, Roberts obtained his Bachelor of Arts in history, summa cum laude, with membership in Phi Beta Kappa. A recent surplus of history graduate students convinced him to attend Harvard Law School for better career prospects, though he maintained his original goal to become a professor. His first-year performance in law school won him membership on the Harvard Law Review. The journal's president, David Leebron, chose Roberts to be its managing editor, despite their differing political views. Classmate David Wilkins described Roberts as "more conservative than the typical Harvard Law student in the 1970s," yet well-liked among fellow students. In 1979, Roberts graduated at the top of his class with a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, despite having to admit himself to a local hospital for exhaustion. He later regretted that during his time at Harvard he traveled into Boston on only a couple of occasions. Early legal career After graduating from law school, Roberts was a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly, one of the most influential judges of the century, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1979 to 1980. Friendly was impressed by his performance; both of them had shared a similar background. Co-clerk Reinier Kraakman recalled that "there was a bond between them." When Roberts became a federal judge years later, he identified with Friendly's nonpartisan approach to law and maintained a correspondence with him. After finishing his clerkship at the Second Circuit in May, Roberts went to clerk for Justice (later Chief Justice) William Rehnquist at the U.S. Supreme Court from 1980 to 1981. At the end his clerkship with Rehnquist, Roberts worked to gain admission to the bar, studying with Michael W. McConnell, a law clerk of Justice William Brennan. After the 1980 presidential election, he resolved to work under the new Reagan administration. Rehnquist recommended him to Ken Starr, who was chief of staff to attorney general William French Smith, and Roberts was named a special assistant to the attorney general. After being admitted to the District of Columbia bar and arriving to the Department of Justice in August 1981,.... Discover the J G Roberts popular books. Find the top 100 most popular J G Roberts books.