A couple of days ago I pointed out that a judge who voted to re-affirm Roe, not because he thought it was in the Constitution or because he felt bound by precedent, but because he favors legal abortion as a policy, would be in the same moral position as a legislator who voted for legal abortion: In both cases the official would have willed that the unborn be denied legal protection. It followed, I wrote, that if these officials were Catholic, neither should be considered eligible to receive communion. (There could not, however, be a blanket policy for Catholic judges, as there could be for Catholic politicians, for reasons I’ve explored at length here.)

Andrew Sullivan noted that post and suggested that, under the circumstances, as much as he regrets it, a Catholic nominee’s faith would have to be considered fair game in Senate confirmation hearings. I have no strong principled objections to an exploration of how a nominee’s faith would affect his performance of his job. But I’m not sure it would be a fruitful line of inquiry.

Here are answers, consistent with what I’ve written on this topic over the last few days, that a Catholic nominee to the Supreme Court could honestly provide to various questions:

“Do you foresee any conflict between your faith and your duty to interpret the Constitution?” “No.” “Would your faith color your interpretation of the Constitution?” “No.” “Would you hesitate to re-affirm Roe and Casey because you would be afraid that your church would deny you communion?” “No.” (Or, if the nominee wanted to be more expansive, “No. If I voted to re-affirm Roe, it would be because I believed that it was the correct legal conclusion—because I concluded that the combined force of constitutional provisions and precedent made it so—and not because of any moral views I hold about abortion policy; and I am confident that my church would understand that. Indeed, if I conclude that Roe is correct as a matter of constitutional interpretation, then I would be morally bound to say so. If I pretended that Roe was wrongly decided, while knowing better, I would be guilty of the sin of lying, and would not be able to present myself for communion.”)