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Court nominee aided gay rights case: Roberts helped gay-rights group win in 1996

John Roberts, President Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, donated legal work on behalf of gay-rights groups that helped them win a landmark 1996 case before that panel, according to the Los Angeles Times.

While he was a private attorney, Roberts helped prepare the attorneys arguing on the side of gay-rights groups in Romer v. Evans. That decision overturned a Colorado law that struck down all local gay-rights provisions. Justices in the 6-3 majority said the law violated gay Coloradoans’ constitutional right to equal protection.