Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Melvin L. Watt (D-N.C.), Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), expressed regret that the Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John Roberts rejected a request to meet with representatives of the CBC. In a letter to Judge Roberts dated August 25, 2005, Chairman Watt and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Chair of the CBC's Judicial Task Force, requested that Judge Roberts meet with them as the official representatives of the CBC. A copy of the letter is attached.

"The members of the CBC are especially disappointed that Judge Roberts would not meet with us because we viewed the meeting as a critically important opportunity to make an impartial assessment of him as a person and to talk to him about particular concerns we had about his record on issues of great importance to the African American community, including civil rights, justice, equality and affirmative action," noted Chairman Watt. "We especially wanted to hear from him firsthand about the stance he has taken on affirmative action and about his efforts to limit the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act when the Act was last renewed."

In conclusion, Rep. Watt said, "The Congressional Black Caucus will still make every effort to assess Judge Roberts' nomination fairly, but we will certainly have to consider his refusal to meet with representatives of our important constituency a substantial mark against him in our evaluation."