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 WASHINGTON (AP) - Abortion was the first question out of the box at John Roberts' Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Hand-wringing over the same issue was rife during Harriet Miers' short-lived nomination to the court. Now abortion again is central to the debate over Samuel Alito, the latest nominee for the high court.
For all the important legal issues facing the nation, somehow abortion and the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling always seem to elbow to the forefront of the debate over modern judicial nominations, just as in the 1950s the court's Brown v. Board of Education desegregation ruling reflected the most important social issue on the American landscape.
"It's always going to be one question in the front and center," Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., said recently from the steps of the Supreme Court.
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