Ask Not

THE Senate faces a momentous decision in deciding whether to confirm John Roberts as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s successor on the Supreme Court. Roberts would have great power to determine whether the death penalty will be curtailed or expanded, how the war on terrorism will be fought, which regulations of abortion will be allowed, whether same-sex marriage will be the law of the land, and what types of affirmative action governments may practice. He may not be able to set local traffic laws or to wage wars. But he will do more to determine how Americans are governed than any senator, or any five senators.

Yet it would apparently be wrong for senators to ask him how he would exercise this vast power. In our current political order, elections for the Senate may turn on the candidates’positions on abortion even though senators do not set abortion policy. But the people who do set abortion policy are not to be asked how they will rule. It is permissible to interview a candidate for the job of Supreme Court justice. But the hirers are not to ask for the answers they most want to know.

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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THE Senate faces a momentous decision in deciding whether to confirm John Roberts as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s successor on the Supreme Court. Roberts would have great power to determine whether the death penalty will be curtailed or expanded, how the war on terrorism will be fought, which regulations of abortion will be allowed, whether same-sex marriage will be the law of the land, and what types of affirmative action governments may practice. He may not be able to set local traffic laws or to wage wars. But he will do more to determine how Americans are governed than any senator, or any five senators.

Yet it would apparently be wrong for senators to ask him how he would exercise this vast power. In our current political order, elections for the Senate may turn on the candidates’positions on abortion even though senators do not set abortion policy. But the people who do set abortion policy are not to be asked how they will rule. It is permissible to interview a candidate for the job of Supreme Court justice. But the hirers are not to ask for the answers they most want to know.