John Fund: "To Roberts' Opponents, the Constitution Is About Abortion and Only Abortion"

John Fund has a short piece at OpinionJournal about the singlemindedness of John Roberts' opponents:

When President Bush interviewed John Roberts last Friday, he told him that any Supreme Court nominee he named would undergo an examination akin to that of a proctologist. That is certainly proving to be the case.

Yesterday, David Leitch and Shannen Coffen, two former colleagues of Judge Roberts, appeared on a conference call with reporters to discuss their friend's background and character. Most of the questions were civil, but the two were also pelted with inquiries about what church Judge Roberts, a Roman Catholic, had attended and who else was in the congregation.

We can safely guess that abortion will be one area of inquiry reporters will spare no effort in examining Judge Roberts on. Within hours of his being named to the high court, the Boston Globe reported that his wife, lawyer Jane Sullivan Roberts, had been involved in a group called Feminists for Life that had filed legal briefs challenging the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade. This morning, the Los Angeles Times weighed in with a front-page story on Ms. Roberts' involvement with the pro-life organization. Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman with the liberal Center for American Progress, explained to the Times why Judge Roberts' wife will inevitably be a subject of interest to administration opponents: "In the absence of information about this guy, people are looking at her and trying to read the tea leaves."

Serrin Foster, the president of Feminists for Life, noted that Judge Roberts had never been involved with her organization and that his wife last held a position in the group in 1999. Since then she has written an article for its newsletter on adoption, a subject of interest since she and her husband have adopted two young children. Don't be surprised, though, if some enterprising reporter tries to unearth the "story behind" their adoption before this confirmation battle is over.