In case you needed another reason to oppose the nomination of John Roberts to the SCOTUS, here's one more. The following are excerpts from
a story by Tom Musbach of the PlanetOut network. It seems that Roberts advised the Reagan Administration to ignore the findings and concerns of the scientific community regarding how the disease was spread.
A 1985 memo written by Supreme Court nominee John Roberts is causing concern among some gay leaders and advocates for people with HIV because it ignored scientific findings about the spread of HIV during the height of the AIDS crisis.
Written in September 1985, the memo urged that language be deleted from a package of briefing materials for President Reagan. Roberts specifically targeted this sentence: "As far as our best scientists have been able to determine, [the] AIDS virus is not transmitted through casual or routine contact."
The HRC and others contend that leaving the language in might have countered the hysteria and misinformation that swirled around AIDS in the mid-1980s.
More below the fold...
For those here that are old enough to recall, during the 80's many people with HIV and AIDS were subjected to unspeakable acts of hatred and humiliation due to the rampant panic at the time concerning how the disease was spread. Affected people were rejected by family and friends and terrorized by the public. Some even had their homes burned to the ground by neighbors, and other members of the community, out of fear and ignorance. Reagan did nothing to calm public concerns or quell the panic, not to mention helping the victims.
"The more we hear about John Roberts' record, the more disturbed we become," said Joe Solmonese, HRC president. "That he counseled President Reagan against using sound science to reassure a fearful nation is a concerning revelation."
The group noted that as early as 1982 scientists at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised that "airborne spread and interpersonal spread [of HIV] through casual contact do not seem likely." In August of 1985, the CDC issued guidelines that said school-age children infected with HIV "should be allowed to attend school or day-care programs."
Roberts' memo also alarmed leaders at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF).
"It is very disturbing that at a time when the American public desperately needed sound information about the transmission of HIV, John Roberts chose to instead advise the president to ignore the prevailing science of the day," Fred Dillon, SFAF's public policy director, told the PlanetOut Network.
These new findings go further to show that the Bush Administration knew exactly what they were getting with Roberts. No other administration in recent memory has done more to undermine science than BushCo, including it's positions on global warming and evolution, among others.