The Lady Doeth Protest

Odd that Ann Coulter would publish a column knocking John Roberts nomination to the Supreme Court:

...we don’t know much about John Roberts. Stealth nominees have never turned out to be a pleasant surprise for conservatives. Never. Not ever.

Because, when he was being denied a hearing on his nomination to the Appellate Court by Patrick Leahy she defended him as a fellow Federalist Society member and holder of impeccable qualifications:

[Miguel] Estrada clerked for Justice Kennedy and has argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court. John Roberts clerked for Justice Rehnquist and has argued more than 30 cases before the Supreme Court. Jeff Sutton clerked for Justice Scalia and has had 15 arguments before the Supreme Court. Michael McConnell clerked for Justice Brennan and has argued 11 cases before the Supreme Court. None of them have even been given hearings by [Sen. Patrick] Leahy.

It turns out what the Democrats mean by "selected primarily for their ideology" means the nominee went to top law schools, had prestigious federal clerkships, went on to distinguished legal careers -- but are believed to be Republicans. Evidence of "extreme views" consists of association with the Federalist Society....

As legal scholar Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., explained: "We don't want this to be a judiciary jammed and packed with people who've come out of the Federalist Society with extreme views."
Consequently, Bush had already purged his list of judicial nominees likely to incite a Democratic witch hunt. He withdrew the names of two Harvard Law School graduates -- one a Supreme Court clerk, one a U.S. congressman -- after Democrats discovered with alarm that the two had suspicious associations with the Federalist Society. To get a fair shake from the Democrats, the Federalist Society should change its name to "Communist Party U.S.A."