WHAT A PLEASURE it has been to read the excerpts from the Reagan-era memos of John Roberts served up by the mainstream media. First, they confirm Roberts’ status as a solid conservative. Insisting, for example, that civil rights laws are about promoting a colorblind society, Roberts opposed racial quotas in hiring and promotion, court ordered busing of students, and congressional redistricting intended to create a pre-ordained number of “safe” seats for minority politicians. He denounced a legal theory propounded by radical feminists that would have allowed judges or bureaucrats to raise the pay rates for jobs held mostly by women on the pretext that these jobs were “worth” as much as totally different jobs held mostly by men. He agreed that Roe v. Wade constitutes a “tragedy,” and that the free-floating right to privacy upon which the decision relies lacks constitutional grounding. He was upset by the extent to which unelected judges were attempting to remake society in accordance with their personal preferences, and willing to entertain the use of the Constitution’s remedies for such judicial usurpation.

Substance aside, his memo excerpts read like an unusually perceptive and pithy blog. At times, they contain snark worthy of Roberts’s most persistent conservative critic, Ann Coulter. A pompous congressman wants to convene a conference on power sharing between the executive and legislative branches? Roberts notes that such a conference occurred in Philadelphia in 1787, and suggests that someone show the congressman the “memo” this meeting produced. Feminists want to empower judges or bureaucrats to set wage rates for jobs throughout the economy? Roberts offers them a slogan: “From each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.” And, like most good bloggers, Roberts provides more than just trenchant political commentary. He treats readers to his views on Michael Jackson (could be supplanted by Prince; Reagan shouldn’t pander to him in any case) and Pete Rose (his .410 slugging percentage leaves him well short of true slugger status). Roberts even cracks a good lawyer joke.