For Immediate Release:
September 15, 2005

Contact: Adrienne Verrilli
at: 212-819-9770 x325

New York, NY - Today, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) announces its opposition to John Roberts to be the next Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and strongly urges the Senate to reject his nomination.

John Roberts's record is of deep concern to SIECUS and to a vast majority of the American people. This week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings were Roberts's opportunity to openly discuss his judicial philosophy and to confirm, without a doubt, his support for a constitutional right to privacy, particularly the precedent set by Roe v. Wade , as well as other individual rights Americans hold dear. Roberts chose, instead, to stonewall the Judiciary Committee and the American people.

During his confirmation hearings, John Roberts was handed numerous chances to tell the American people his views on the constitutional right to privacy and what he perceives to be the limits on government intrusion into their personal lives, yet he repeatedly refused to do so. We can only conclude from Roberts's lack of candor that individual rights and protections previously afforded by the Supreme Court could be in jeopardy if he were to be confirmed.

Appointments to the Supreme Court are for a lifetime and will affect the rights of generations of Americans to come. John Roberts's unwillingness to explain his views on critical rights and liberties Americans have come to rely on shows not only contempt for the Senate, but for the American people. The Senate must vote no on Johns Roberts's confirmation to the U.S Supreme Court.

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