What Could He Rule On?

Jeffrey Dubner at Tapped picks up on a remarkable exchange between Bush Supreme Court nominee John Roberts and Sen. Dick Durbin. In this world of bottomless political cynicism and immaculately careful scripting, truly surprising moments are hard to come by... but I think this counts:

According to two people who attended the meeting, Roberts was asked by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considers immoral. Roberts is a devout Catholic and is married to an ardent pro-life activist. The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a sin, and various church leaders have stated that government officials supporting abortion should be denied religious rites such as communion. (Pope Benedict XVI is often cited as holding this strict view of the merging of a person's faith and public duties).

Renowned for his unflappable style in oral argument, Roberts appeared nonplused and, according to sources in the meeting, answered after a long pause that he would probably have to recuse himself. (Emphasis added.)

As Jeff observes:

He'd only have to recuse himself from abortion and gay-rights cases ... and maybe the death penalty ... and perhaps pornography cases ... and possibly questions of church-state separation ... and, I suppose, poverty and social justice issues ... and then there's the moral acceptability of war ...

In other words, not quite everything, but a hell of a lot. I can't wait to see the inevitable "clarification" on this one.