The newly released memos from Judge Roberts cited in this USA Today story on Judge Roberts views on voting rights while in the Reagan Administration are in fact duplicates of documents that have already been circulating. See for example this document released by the archives on August 1.
See also this Chicago Tribune story, which includes the following discussion regarding the confirmation process for Judge Roberts:
- We do not intend to demonize this man, we’re not going to call him names,” said Alfreda Robinson, head of the judicial nominations committee of the National Bar Association, an 80-year-old black lawyers organization.
“But we have a view that there are some questions that he needs to answer,” said Robinson, associate dean at George Washington University Law School. “For example, his view on reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, the scope of that act and whether it should be expanded, because … that’s one of the very important issues to civil rights organizations.”