Roberts Is Black Leaders' Reagan Deja Vu

The nominee refuses to meet with black leaders for the same reasons Reagan did.

Two weeks before Senate confirmation hearings on Supreme Court chief justice-designate John Roberts were scheduled to open, Roberts snatched a page from the playbook of his former boss, President Reagan, and refused to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus. Reagan's snub of the Caucus two decades ago was more than just presidential pique. During the Reagan years, black leaders were outcasts at the White House, and that most definitely included black Democrats. They, and civil rights leaders, fought back with an eight-year unrelenting war against Reagan's policies.