• Space shuttle program : Bush’s Supreme Court nominee Space shuttle program : Bush’s Supreme Court nominee Sacramento (Calif.) Bee — July 20, 2005 In picking his first nominee to the Supreme Court, President Bush had the opportunity to spare
• Space shuttle program : Bush’s Supreme Court nominee
Space shuttle program : Bush’s Supreme Court nominee
Sacramento (Calif.) Bee — July 20, 2005
In picking his first nominee to the Supreme Court, President Bush had the opportunity to spare the Senate, the nation and himself a bitter confirmation fight. It remains to be seen whether he did so by nominating John G. Roberts Jr.
Much in Roberts’ career recommends him. He is unquestionably brilliant. He has argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court. He has served as an attorney in the White House and the Justice Department. When Bush nominated him in 2003 to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a bipartisan group of more than 100 prominent lawyers supported his nomination.
Even so, his confirmation this time may not be easy. The principal sticking point is likely to concern abortion. Opponents will cite a brief he co-authored arguing that the Roe v. Wade decision should be reversed. …
Roberts will face vigorous questioning on that and a host of other questions before the Senate. In the end, the course of his nomination may well depend on something else he said in 2003.
“My practice has not been ideological in any sense,” Roberts said then. The question is whether he can persuade senators and the nation of that with a seat on the nation’s highest court in the balance.
Chicago Tribune — July 14, 2005
After 2 1/2 years of planning and preparation, not to mention far more than the usual preflight fanfare, the launch of the space shuttle Discovery was scrapped on Wednesday, the victim of a faulty sensor.
Why are we not surprised?
This was to be the first flight since the fiery disintegration of the shuttle Columbia in early 2003, and NASA has labored mightily to prove it has learned its lessons about safety. Yet even before that, as Discovery sat on the launch pad, a temporary protective cover for one of its windows fell and damaged two heat-resistant tiles.
Those glitches, though minor, are eerily symbolic of the troubles that have plagued the shuttle program since its inception.
Still, Discovery will be launched. And whenever it happens, it will mark the beginning of the final chapter for the shuttle program, which is set to end in 2010.
It is a chapter that should not be written. The shuttle, a relic of the 1970s-era of Gremlins and leisure suits, should be retired now. …
- Provided by the Associated Press
