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64% of U.S. Residents Want To Know Roberts

About 64% of US residents want to know Judge John Roberts’ views on abortion prior to his confirmation as a Supreme Court justice, according to a… Washington Post/ABC News poll, the Washington Post reports. The survey of 500 U.S. adults, which was conducted on Thursday, also found that about 65% of respondents — including 80% of Democrats, half of Republicans and two-thirds of independents surveyed — would want Roberts to uphold Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that struck down state abortion bans. Approximately 58% of respondents said Roberts is “about right” in the political spectrum, while 26% said he is “too conservative” and 9% said he is not conservative enough (Morin/Babington, Washington Post, 7/23). About 61% of adults surveyed said Roberts should answer questions on how he would have ruled in past Supreme Court cases, which would allow senators to explore his stance on a variety of issues, including abortion rights (Reuters, 7/22). About 59% of respondents said they support Roberts’ confirmation, while 23% oppose his confirmation and the remainder had no opinion. Among Democrats, 41% support his confirmation, compared to 84% of Republicans and 58% of independents. The poll had a margin of error of four percentage points (Washington Post, 7/23).

Little Known on Roberts’ Abortion Views
Although little is known about Roberts’ views on abortion, some observers say he could tip the balance of the Supreme Court on the issue because retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was the deciding vote in several cases that upheld abortion rights. Roberts, who in 2003 was confirmed as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has never written a legal opinion on the issue as a judge. However, Roberts in 1991 while serving as deputy solicitor general argued in Rust v. Sullivan that federally funded family planning clinics should be banned from providing abortion-related counseling and said that Roe was “wrongly decided,” did not have support “in the text, structure or history of the Constitution” and should be overturned. However, during his 2003 confirmation hearings for the federal judgeship, Roberts said he made the statements only as part of making a case for the administration and said the decision in Roe is “the settled law of the land.” In addition, Roberts in 1992 — while representing the antiabortion group Operation Rescue — argued against preventing protesters from blocking entrances to abortion clinics (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 7/22). Several newspapers recently have examined Roberts’ views on abortion. Some of these articles are summarized below.

• “If high court overturns Roe v. Wade, decision would undermine the GOP,” Baltimore Sun: Some observers say that if Roe were overturned — as some people fear might happen if Roberts is confirmed to the Supreme Court — Democrats would have the most to gain politically. Republicans currently oppose abortion rights, but they do not have to face the “unpopular vote” of outlawing the procedure in states, as would happen if the Supreme Court case were reversed, according to the Sun (Hill, Baltimore Sun, 7/24).
  

• “Groups paint picture of a post-Roe landscape,” New Orleans Times-Picayune: After Roberts’ nomination for Supreme Court justice, abortion-rights and antiabortion groups have analyzed individual states to predict how the abortion landscape would look if Roe were overturned and abortion rights were left up to the states (Nolan, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 7/24).
  

• “Antiabortion Advocacy of Wife of Court Nominee Draws Interest,” New York Times: The Times on Saturday profiled Roberts’ wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, and examined how her antiabortion advocacy might shed light on Roberts’ personal views on abortion. Some observers say her support for antiabortion causes indicates that Roberts also opposes abortion rights, but others say it is “politically risky and in bad form” to connect her advocacy with her husband’s potential rulings on the Supreme Court if he were confirmed, according to the Times (Clemetson/Toner, New York Times, 7/23).
  

• “Democrats Prepare Ground To Challenge Judge Roberts,” New York Times: Some Senate Democrats on Friday said they plan to focus Roberts’ confirmation hearings on the broader issues of personal privacy and government power rather than the specific issues of abortion rights and Roe. Republicans also expressed interest in omitting specific abortion-rights issues, including Roe and other abortion-related cases, out of the hearings, saying social issues should be left up to Congress (Kirkpatrick, New York Times, 7/23).
  

• “It won’t take long to see how Roberts will lean if he wins Supreme Court confirmation,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: If Roberts is confirmed, his views on abortion rights and other issues could be revealed quickly because the Supreme Court’s schedule already includes many controversial cases, including two abortion-related cases. However, experts also warn that justices sometimes require time to find their voice and establish their judicial philosophy (McGough, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/24).

Broadcast Coverage
Several broadcast programs included discussions of Roberts’ legal decisions, including on abortion rights:

• CBS’ “Face the Nation”: The segment includes comments from Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Jan Crawford Greenburg, legal correspondent for the Chicago Tribune (Schieffer, “Face the Nation,” CBS, 7/24). The complete transcript is available online.
  




• NBC’s “Meet the Press”: The segment includes comments from Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Fred Thompson, adviser to Roberts (Russert, “Meet the Press,” NBC, 7/24). The complete transcript is available online.
  




• NPR’s “Morning Edition”: NPR’s Juan Williams discusses Roberts’ legal record (Williams, “Morning Edition,” NPR, 7/25). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
  




• PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer”: The segment includes comments from Crawford Greenburg; Shannen Coffin, former deputy assistant attorney general and partner at Steptoe & Johnson; and Jeffrey Rosen, professor at George Washington University Law School (Suarez, “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” PBS, 7/22). The complete transcript is available online. The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
  

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ?2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.