ID:

487

Date:

2005-08-16

Headline:

Roberts urged keeping presidential files secret

Reporter's name:

David G. Savage and Henry Weinstein

Delay/denial:

No

Lawsuit:

No

Fees:

No

Media outlet:

Los Angeles Times

City:

Washington, DC

Summary:

John G. Roberts Jr. lamented the "pernicious effect" of the Presidential Records Act on the executive branch's ability to protect "the deliberative privilege" from other branches and the public, in one document among several thousand pages from the 1980s, when Roberts was a Reagan Administration lawyer. The documents also included a 1985 memo in which Roberts described a Supreme Court ruling limiting school prayer as "indefensible."

Notes:

The agency produced 5,393 pages of records relating to Roberts, out of over 50,000 the Reagan Library claimed to have; another 478 pages were withheld, all but 19 out of "privacy" concerns. The records were obtained by Senate Democrats as part of an examination of Roberts' background for his Senate confirmation hearing to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Roberts was confirmed.

Keywords:

Supreme Court, confirmation, Roberts, John G. Roberts Jr., chief justice, Ronald Reagan, Reagan Administration, presidential library, lawyer, school prayer, Presidential Records Act, Bush, George W. Bush, nomination

URL:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.roberts16aug16,0,1178814.story

Agencies:

NARA

States:

DC

Categories:

general government
justice
public records