Unlike some, I did not find Judge Roberts answers on precedent to be all that problematic or difficult to understand. He outlined a very traditional — and widely accepted (even among conservatives) — view of stare decisis that is in complete accordance with basic notions of the rule of law Prior decisions of the Supreme Court are due respect. The burden is on those who wish to revisit or alter prior decisions. The burden is higher with respect to statutory issues than constitutional questions, because Congress can fix the former, whereas only the Court (or a constitutional amendment) can fix the latter. The burden is harder to meet the more a decision is entrenched in the legal fabric, but it does not place any decision of limits. This is the test outlined in Casey — and this test is not a problem. Indeed, there are many who argue that a problem with Casey is that it did not faithfully apply its own test. I listened carefully to Roberts’s remarks on this issue, and he said nothing that would be inconsistent with his a) voting to uphold the New Hampshire parental consent law that will be before the Court this year; b) voting to uphold the federal partial-birth abortion act also likely to go before the court (though I’d love to see Thomas and him question it on federalism grounds); and c) eventually voting to overturn Roe when the issue is squarely before the court at some later date. Is this what a Justice Roberts will do? I suspect so, but one can’t be certain. This is what I believed before the hearings began, and it’s still my sense today.