Before Senators decide whether to confirm John Roberts to a lifetime job as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, it is crucial that they ask probing questions about his judicial philosophy and his views on important legal issues. Perhaps even more importantly, it is crucial that they actually get answers.
This point was vividly illustrated by the 1991 confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. No, not that part of the confirmation hearings. Before Anita Hill’s allegations that Thomas sexually harassed her surfaced publicly, then-Judge Thomas was asked about his views on Roe v. Wade. Justice Thomas said he had an “open mind,” and claimed that he had never discussed Roe with anyone, even though the decision came down when he was in law school. When Senator Biden asked him directly whether the right to privacy protects a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, Justice Thomas said he could not answer without undermining his impartiality.
A mere eight months later, after he was confirmed to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas joined an opinion that said, “We believe that Roe was wrongly decided, and that it can and should be overruled . . .”
After the fact, reporters documented that before Justice Thomas’s confirmation hearing, the White House specifically told him that he must not admit his opposition to Roe v. Wade because it could jeopardize his confirmation. If Senators had known the full story before they voted on Thomas’ confirmation, it is possible this information could have changed their minds.
For the sake of all the people who are affected by Supreme Court decisions—that is, everyone in the United States—Senators cannot let Judge Roberts evade important questions in this way. For more on what Senators should require of Judge Roberts, see our earlier post, helpfully titled What to Require of Nominee Roberts.
