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September 1, 2005, Seattle Times - AP, Roberts critical of Congress in papers, by Jesse J. Holland,

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September 1, 2005, Seattle Times - AP, Roberts critical of Congress in papers, by Jesse J. Holland,The Associated Press, 

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee John Roberts took shots at Congress while a Reagan administration lawyer, saying in documents released yesterday that a congressman killed in connection with cult leader Jim Jones' massacre could be viewed as a "publicity hound" and that what Congress does best is "nothing."

Those two documents were among 420 Roberts papers released by the National Archives that originally had been withheld from Congress for privacy and security reasons.

Two of the released documents show Roberts, then an assistant to White House counsel Fred Fielding, taking the then-Democratic Congress to task.

Congress voted to give California Rep. Leo Ryan, a Democrat, a Congressional Gold Medal after he was killed near the Jonestown commune in Guyana in 1978. Ryan had gone there to investigate whether Jones was holding people against their will.

Jones ordered a mass suicide, and more than 900 cult members died.

Roberts told Fielding in a Nov. 18, 1983, memo he was not certain he would have voted to give Ryan a medal.


"The distinction of his service in the House is certainly subject to debate, and his actions leading to his murder can be viewed as those of a publicity hound," Roberts said.

Roberts, however, said he saw no legal objections to the decision.

In an Oct. 11, 1983, letter to U.S. Appeals Judge Henry Friendly of New York, Roberts complained about Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger's plan to set up a new appeals-level court to cut down on the high court's workload.

The White House counsel's office was against it, Roberts wrote, but the chief justice, congressional leaders and the Justice Department favored the idea.

"Our only hope is that Congress will continue to do what it does best — nothing," said Roberts, who used to be one of Friendly's clerks.

Those statements could come back to haunt Roberts on Tuesday, when he faces the Senate Judiciary Committee in his attempt to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

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