WASHINGTON—At the dawn of the Reagan revolution, when conservatives were just beginning to flex their muscles on a wide range of issues, John G. Roberts was a confident young lawyer with well-developed thoughts about—and the power to influence—the course of change.
Newly released memos from the Supreme Court nominee's time as special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith in 1981-82 show that even then, Roberts was an ardent advocate for judicial restraint. He believed deeply, even as a 26-year-old fresh from a Supreme Court clerkship, in the idea of leaving most federal decisions to the elected branches of government.
_Roberts would have kept the courts largely out of ordering busing to desegregate schools, other desegregation efforts and civil rights enforcement.