August 31, 2005
JCN counsel Wendy E. Long today made the following statement on the questioning of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts by Senate Judiciary Committee members:
"Two kinds of questions are being threatened by Senators regarding abortion: those asking for personal views and those seeking legal analysis. Answers to both are off limits.
"Judge Roberts's personal views on abortion are utterly irrelevant to how he would rule on legal questions before the United States Supreme Court. Other nominees have declined to give their personal views, and Judge Roberts should too, lest anyone think such views indicate how he would rule. One thing we know about him is he believes in applying the law impartially and fairly and not, as liberals advocate, in judges imposing their own policy preferences from the bench.
"With respect to his legal analysis of abortion questions, such as whether Roe v. Wade was correctly decided, Judge Roberts must refuse to answer questions from Committee members. As clearly stated by Senator Joe Biden and then- Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her 1993 Judiciary Committee hearings, to answer such questions on issues that will come before the Court in the future undermines the independence of the Court and would violate canons of judicial ethics. Judge Roberts must therefore refuse, like all prior nominees, to answer such questions.
"If Senators make good on threats to vote against Judge Roberts for his appropriate refusal to answer such questions injects partisan politics into the confirmation process to a degree never seen before."
To schedule an interview with a representative of the Judicial Confirmation Network, please call 703-683-5004.
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