Judging Mr. Right

(4 of 7)

On the squash courts of Washington, where the knees and egos of all species of striver take a beating, Roberts is an especially dangerous opponent. "When you're playing squash with someone, you need to know whether they're right-handed or left-handed because it dramatically affects your strategy," says his friend Lazarus. But Roberts is ambidextrous. Faced with a tough backhand, Roberts would just switch hands. "I've played with a lot of people over a lot of years, including Scalia," says Lawrence Robbins, a fellow Harvard Law School alum, "and John's the only one I know who can do that."

That's why those poring over the Roberts record will have such a tough time finding an ideology. Law professors can afford to offer grand theories; practicing lawyers want to win. The very best players--and Roberts is unquestionably one--can argue all sides of any issue, because that is what they get paid to do. So all the selective readings of his case file obscured the point that he argued for and against affirmative action, for and against environmental regulations, argued that Roe v. Wade should be overturned when he was representing a Republican President and then described it as settled law when he was speaking as a nominee to become an appellate judge.

Given the uncertainty, his manner and his habits of mind take on greater importance--and here there is an extraordinary consensus about his powers to win whatever argument he is in. As Solicitor General, Ken Starr had his share of Supreme Court encounters in the first Bush Administration. He remembers returning to his office in the Justice Department one day after arguing a case before the court. His principal deputy walked into the office and closed the door. "Ken, let me tell you, you're waving your arms too much," Roberts said gently. He then started flailing his hands and arms to demonstrate what his boss had just done in front of the Justices. "It looked like I was trying to take off, birdlike," Starr says, chuckling. "He was right, and I began disciplining myself to hold my arms behind my back, grab the podium and generally use my hands in less wildly gesticulating ways." During staff meetings to thrash out important cases, Starr found that Roberts was distinguished by brainpower and a striking absence of guile. He had the ability to "get along with the large egos that tend to dot the landscape on the fifth floor of the Justice Department," Starr says, hinting at an advantage Roberts would bring to the court. "Even though he would be the smartest person in most rooms, he never acted that way. But what he says has such force that it's quickly apparent."