Diary Prequel Package — page 122

TOM DAVIS, VIRGINIA, CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, CONNECTICUT DAN BURTON, INDIANA MICHAEL A. TURNER, OHIO DARRELL ISSA. CALIFORNIA 2157 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING MARYLAND HENRY A. WAXMAN, CALIFORNIA, RANKING MINORITY MEMBER TOM DENNIS J. KUCINICH, DANNY K. DAVIS, ILLINOIS MARK E. SOUDER, INDIANA a OD RUSSELL PLATTS. PENNSYLVANIA House of Representatives Ws LACY CLAY, MISSOUR CHRIS CANNON, UTAH neh Nephi ayy Saba ceiceiieR Mave COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM ase een eae CANDICE MILLER, MICHIGAN LINDA T. SANCHEZ, CALIFORNIA VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE, FLORIOA BRIAN HiGGING, NEW YORK JON C, PORTER, NEVADA ; , ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, KENNY MARCHANT, TEXAS WaSHINGTON, DC 20515-6143 ' LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, GEORGIA , DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PATRICK T. MCHENAIY, NORTH CAROLINA Mavsorrry (202) 225-5074 CHARLES W. DENT, PENNSYLVANIA FAcSamLe (202) 225-3976 RD NONE VIRGINIA FOXX, NORTH CAROLINA Minority (202) 225-5051 Se : TTY (202) 225-6852 http://reform.house.gov September 1, 2005 Senator Arlen Specter Senator Patrick Leahy Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Dear Senators: I am writing to request that you question Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts about his role in a particularly shameful chapter in the history of the AIDS epidemic in the United States: the hysteria that led many communities to bar children with AIDS from attending school. In 1985, unfounded fears over AIDS transmission were sweeping across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) responded on August 30, 1985, by issuing a landmark scientific statement. The agency reviewed all available evidence and concluded that there was no evidence of spread through casual contact. CDC recommended that most children with AIDS "should be allowed to attend school and after-school] day-care and to be placed in a foster home in an unrestricted setting." Two weeks later, President Reagan had an opportunity to reassure the nation. Draft briefing materials for a major press conference advised the President to say that "as far as our best scientists have been able to determine, AIDS virus is not transmitted through casual or routine contact." Yet in his role as Associate Counsel to President Reagan, Mr. Roberts recommended striking this statement from the President's briefing. Claiming that AIDS transmission through casual contact was a "disputed scientific issue," Mr. Roberts wrote that "we should assume that AIDS can be transmitted through casual or routine contact." Five days later, when asked whether it was safe for children with AIDS to go to school, President Reagan did not cite the nation's leading public health officials. He instead stated, "I can understand both sides of it." The President's failure to speak clearly about scientific understanding of AIDS transmission is now widely understood to have stoked the hysteria about AIDS and the social stigma suffered by children with AIDS. I urge you to question Judge Roberts about his actions in this case. How he answers will shed needed light not only on the past, but also on Judge Roberts's future approach to using scientific evidence in the formulation of law and policy. LANTOS, CALIFORNIA ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS PLOWENES, NEWYORK EDOLPHUS TOWNS, NEW YORK rary McrUGH, NEWYORK Cc 3 f (5 I it dv St t S PAUL E. KANJORSKi, PENNSYLVANIA ONC MCR ROADS ongress ol tye Canite ate CAROLYN B; MALONEY, NEW YORK GIL. GUTKNECHT, MINNESOTA C.A, DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, HUSETTS