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Quick-draw PFAW

ABC News' "This Week" dipped into its archives yesterday to broadcast an interview with Judge John G. Roberts Jr. that originally aired July 2, 2000.

Among other things, Judge Roberts noted that court rulings that struck down limits on abortion, continued strict church-state separation and upheld the Miranda decision made "a compelling case that we do not have a very conservative Supreme Court."

When asked whether the "conservative counterrevolution" on the court was over, Judge Roberts said, "I think a lot will depend on new appointments and the types of cases that do come before the court."

The old footage of the man whom President Bush nominated to the Supreme Court last month vexed Ralph G. Neas, People for the American Way president.

"It is clearer than ever that the confirmation of John Roberts would mean replacing Sandra Day O'Connor with someone who has viewed her as an impediment to the ultraconservative legal movement he helped lead as a political appointee during the Reagan and first Bush administrations," Mr. Neas said yesterday.

"Roberts' careful way with words cannot be allowed to mask the truth about his approach to the Constitution," he concluded.

Are ya listening?

The Oregonian's David Reinhard had advice for Air America listeners yesterday, no doubt scandalized, he writes, by the "Enronesque" revelations that the liberal talk-radio network received a six-figure startup loan from a New York charity that was supposed to provide services for needy youngsters.