On This Sept 11

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Today we remember the attacks on America by Islamic fanatics exactly four years ago. It's been a good day, however, and we have plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The NFL kicked off week 1 of what should be an exciting season, the death toll from Hurricane Katrina so far is about 9,500 less than first predicted, and we look forward to the beginning of John Roberts' Senate hearing tomorrow.

We have learned today that the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, will not ask Roberts whether he would vote to overturn that pesky Roe v. Wade decision.

To demand a yes or no answer on issues like abortion would of course show no respect for the Supreme Court as an institution, which depends of testimony from the different parties before rendering a decision on any given case. Justices should not begin the day already knowing how they will vote, regardless of what kind of reality it may be.

Specter will, on the other hand, ask Roberts if a right to "privacy" exists in the Constitution, and because it doesn't then the question should be an easy one to answer - unless he (most likely) decides to cleverly sidestep his way around the question the same way Ruth Bader Ginsburg did all throughout her hearing.