52% of U.S. Residents Want To Know Roberts' Abortion Views Before He Is Confirme

About 52% of U.S. residents - including 60% of U. women and 43% of US men -- want to know Judge John Roberts' personal views on abortion before the Senate votes to confirm him as a Supreme Court justice, according to an AP-...Ipsos poll released on Thursday, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. According to the poll, which was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday among 752 adults, 42% of respondents do not think Roberts should discuss his abortion views. Approximately 60% of surveyed Democrats wanted more information on Roberts' abortion views, while 54% of surveyed Republicans felt that Roberts should not have to disclose his abortion views during the confirmation process. In addition, although about 59% of survey respondents said they do not have enough information on Roberts to form an opinion of his nomination, of the respondents who said they did have enough information, 25% view him favorably, while 14% view him unfavorably (Lester, AP/Yahoo! News, 7/21). Overall, 47% of respondents think Roberts should be confirmed, compared with 24% who oppose his confirmation, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points (Editor and Publisher, 7/21).

USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll
About 74% of U.S. residents think abortion is an appropriate topic for senators to discuss with Roberts at his confirmation hearings, according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll, USA Today reports. The poll of 625 adults, which was conducted on Wednesday, also found that 76% of U.S. residents say they need additional information before determining whether Roberts' views are "mainstream." About 51% of those surveyed said Roberts' nomination is an excellent or good choice, 34% said he is a poor choice, and the remaining survey participants had no opinion. The poll had a margin of error of four percentage points (Nichols/Kiely, USA Today, 7/21).

Background 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 upholding 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 v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court case that struck down state abortion bans -- 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, 7/21).

Additional Coverage
Several newspapers recently have examined Roberts' views on abortion. Some of these articles are summarized below.

"Abortion stance becomes subject of speculation," Baltimore Sun: The lack of confirmed information on Roberts' abortion views has fueled speculation about whether he thinks Roe should be overturned (Desmon, Baltimore Sun, 7/22).

"Wife's role in women's group now in focus," Boston Globe: The Globe on Friday profiled Roberts' wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, and examined her involvement as an antiabortion advocate, pro bono lawyer and board member of the Washington, D.C.-based Feminists for Life of America, a group that aims to "eliminate, through practical solutions, the root causes of driving girls and women to abortion" (Easton, Boston Globe, 7/22).

"Roberts' abortion stance takes center stage," Detroit Free Press: Although his personal views on abortion are unknown, some people believe Roberts opposes abortion rights, but legal experts say that does not necessarily mean he would vote to overturn Roe if he had the opportunity (McCaffrey, Detroit Free Press, 7/22).

"Hot-Button Issues Will Be on Court's Front Burner," Los Angeles Times: If confirmed, Roberts might have an opportunity to cast deciding votes in several high-profile cases scheduled to be heard by the court this fall, including cases involving abortion rights. According to its schedule, which was published on Thursday, the court on Nov. 30 will begin hearing a case about the constitutionality of a New Hampshire abortion parental notification law, which was struck down by a lower court because it lacks an exception for a pregnant minor's health. The court also is expected to hear a case about so-called "partial-birth" abortion, according to the Times (Savage, Los Angeles Times, 7/22).

"Nominee's Wife is a Feminist After Her Own Heart," Washington Post: Although Sullivan Roberts is "unequivocally antiabortion in her personal views," she also has partnered with abortion-rights organizations to lobby against certain welfare cuts and gain support for the Violence Against Women Act in an effort to address the causes of abortion, the Post reports (Rosin, Washington Post, 7/22).

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Friday examined Roberts' previous legal decisions involving abortion rights. The segment includes archived audio comments from Roberts (Totenberg, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/22). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

NPR's "Day to Day" on Thursday included an interview with Slate correspondent Will Saletan about Roberts' views on abortion rights (Chadwick, "Day to Day," NPR, 7/21). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.