Today’s Washington Times has the most extensive write-up of Roberts’s youth that I have seen (and it isn’t very extensive):
Judge Roberts grew up in Long Beach, Ind., near Lake Michigan — a community where Bethlehem Steel managers lived. In high school, he was an excellent student and athlete, named as captain of the football team as well as editor of the school’s newspaper. He graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in three years and received his law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
At 50, Judge Roberts — if confirmed — would be the youngest associate justice currently on the court. He also would be the 11th Catholic to serve on the high court and join with Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy in outnumbering Protestants on the court for the first time.
According to the Indianapolis Star, Judge Roberts attended a Catholic boarding school in Long Beach, Ind., then transferred to La Lumiere, at the time an all-boys Catholic boarding school near La Porte, Ind. He graduated from there in 1973.
But Judge Roberts considers his faith “a private matter,” said Shannen Coffin, former deputy assistant attorney general during Mr. Bush’s first term.
“He is not going to approach the law as a Roman Catholic, nor as a white male,” Mr. Coffin said. “John is a practicing Catholic but like most Catholics, he doesn’t wear his faith on his sleeve. He is a man of deep and personal faith, but he’d also say he’d like to leave it at that.”
Judge Roberts’ wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, also is an attorney. From 1995 to 1999, she was an executive vice president for Feminists for Life, a 33-year-old pro-life group based in the District. She still serves as legal counsel for the FFL board.
“She’s a brilliant attorney and we’re very proud of her service to Feminists for Life,” FFL President Serrin Foster said. “She’s smart. There’s a very Kennedyesque feeling when you look at them and their kids.”
Update:
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