The Laugh-In Candidate

At least you can't say that Judge Roberts is one of those humorless conservatives. Jamie recently forwarded me cites to a case where Roberts ruled that feds can't use the Endangered Species Act to protect endangered arroyo toads since the case didn't involve interstate commerce. "The toad," he wrote, "for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California." In a similar vein, Roberts once declined to apply federal energy regulations to Canadian utilities:

It was a close thing, but Benedict Arnold's bold plan to capture Canada for the Revolution fell short at the Battle of Quebec in early 1776. As a result, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must now decide when affiliates of Canadian utilities -- utilities not subject to FERC jurisdiction -- may sell power at market-based rates in the United States.

The man's a total cut up.