Pro-Life Attorney: John Roberts Giving Good Answers on Abortion 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 15, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A leading pro-life attorney who has argued key pro-life cases before the Supreme Court says he’s pleased with the way nominee John Roberts is answering questions fired at him by senators wanting to know more about where he stands on the issue of abortion.
In an interview with CBN News, Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and someone who knows Roberts personally, said "all of us with a conservative judicial philosophy…should be pleased with the way he is answering questions."
Some pro-life advocates are concerned about Roberts’ comments on the Griswald v. Connecticut birth control case from the late 1960s that created the privacy notion the high court used to allow abortions in Roe v. Wade. Roberts called the case "settled law."
"His answer to that question was the same, word for word, as [pro-life Justice] Clarence Thomas," Sekulow said.
Sekulow explained that Roberts told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the case had to do with marital privacy and Roberts "specifically said it is not resting within the context of penumbras, or emanations of the 14th Amendment" as the high court claimed in Roe.
"That is where the Roe v. Wade rights came into play, and he answered exactly the same way that Justice Thomas did, and I think he holds the same viewpoint," Sekulow argued.
Sekulow told CBN News that Roberts’ answers on Roe v. Wade were appropriate and showed he understands how the court could figure out a way to overturn the decision.
"Roberts said stare decisis is the starting point, it’s not the end point," Sekulow observed. "Sometimes the Supreme Court has to correct itself. And John Roberts laid that out very clearly."
Sekulow said abortion advocates are so intense in their opposition to John Roberts because they know he will likely overturn Roe and because he has the brilliant legal mind to be able to lead the court to do that.
"They are reacting so strongly because he knows how to apply the law, and that will be historic in Supreme Court history," Sekulow said.
"I think everybody should be very comforted that he understands his role as a judge," Sekulow concluded. "He is not a policy maker. He said that. I think that is going to be helpful on so many of these issues."
