September 12, 2005
A BASEBALL ANALOGY IS ALWAYS A GOOD START:
Roberts says judges play a limited role (JESSE J. HOLLAND, September 12, 2005, AP)
Supreme Court nominee John Roberts said Monday that justices are servants of the law, playing a limited government role, as the Senate opened confirmation hearings on President Bush's choice to be the nation's 17th chief justice.Posted by Orrin Judd at September 12, 2005 4:13 PM"A certain humility should characterize the judicial role," the 50-year-old Roberts told the Judiciary Committee in a brief statement. "Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around."
The appellate judge likened judges to baseball umpires, saying that "they make sure everybody plays by the rules, but it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire."
Either Roberts is the best actor since Laurence Olivier or he's the most sincerely modest person in public life I've ever seen.
We watched his opening statement on Fox News this evening. Talk about charismatic.
Posted by: erp![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 12, 2005 8:22 PM
If he is a fan of the Game, I will forgive him almost anything.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at September 12, 2005 8:23 PM
H/t Jim Lindgren, of the Volokh Conspiracy
Roberts' comparison of a judge to a baseball umpire reminds me of an old story about three different versions of judicial reasoning, built on the same analogy.
First umpire: “Some are balls and some are strikes, and I call them as they are.”
Second umpire: “Some are balls and some are strikes, and I call them as I see 'em.”
Third umpire: “Some are balls and some are strikes, but they ain’t nothin' ‘til I call 'em.”
at September 12, 2005 9:42 PM
the last is a saying attributed to umpire Bill Klem.
Posted by: oj at September 12, 2005 9:50 PM