Roberts hearings - Blogging hiatus

I have spent a couple of hours (so far) tonight watching the replay of today's hearing on CSPAN. Here are a couple of random thoughts from a lawyer with a fairly active federal appellate practice.

• Roberts is not a reincarnation of Rehnquist. At this point, I think that what Stephen Breyer is for liberals, John Roberts will be for conservatives. Sympathetic to the cause, but with a recognition that judges are not supposed to be policymakers.
• Roberts and Breyer will be the most influential justices over the next 15 years, and look for them to form an alliance in many important cases. Here is why: Breyer and Roberts will look at each case meticulously from the bottom up from a limited factual perspective, albeit through different ideological prisms. Conversely, Scalia/Thomas and Stevens/Ginsburg will continue to look at each case from a top down ideological perspective where the limiting facts of a particular case will not now dissuade them from trying to force sweeping conclusions.
  

In the meantime, I'm off to NYC tomorrow for an argument on Thursday before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. It will be my first visit to Manhattan since 9/11 (I was last there in May 2001), and I will be staying within blocks of the WTC site. This is going to be a memorable trip in many ways but, since I won't be bringing my computer, it also means that blogging will be very light until at least early next week.