The faith of John Roberts

Jonathan Turley has this tidbit in a piece today titled, The faith of John Roberts:

Judge John G. Roberts Jr. has been called the stealth nominee for the Supreme Court — a nominee specifically selected because he has few public positions on controversial issues such as abortion. However, in a meeting last week, Roberts briefly lifted the carefully maintained curtain over his personal views. In so doing, he raised a question that could not only undermine the White House strategy for confirmation but could raise a question of his fitness to serve as the 109th Supreme Court justice.

The exchange occurred during one of Roberts' informal discussions with senators last week. 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.

UPDATE: Seems the Judicial Confirmation Network is a bit upset with Sen Durbin over the above question to Judge Roberts.

UPDATE II: Sen Durbin's office is reporting the question above was never asked. Reuters is reporting that Sen Cornyn asked Judge Roberts if his faith would affect his decisions:

"He recognized that anybody who cannot do that ... is unsuitable for the bench," Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said after a private meeting with President Bush's conservative candidate for the high court.

Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but for those who are relying on Judge Roberts' Catholic faith to lead him to overturn or limit Roe need to look elsewehere. There are still good reasons to believe that he would overturn or limit Roe.