The Senate Inquisition

No one expects the Spanish inquisition. That's a prime quote from a Monty Python skit but it has relevance here in the Senate's confirmation hearings for John Roberts.

No one should expect a Senate inquisition. For John Roberts has more litigation experience and handling Supreme Court justices questioning under time-pressure than any Senator can summon up. None of the Senators who are going to be asking the questions are capable of asking anything that will get Roberts to divulge some hidden judicial philosophy. Roberts will let people know that he will faithfully adhere to the US Constitution - what it says, and apply it much as an umpire calls a ballgame.

John Tierney suggests going with the oddball questions - it might get Roberts caught off guard. He's right. It might.

Would you think it's cool if a professional wrestler dubbed himself Chief Justice, or would you sue him for trademark infringement?

During the announcement of your nomination at the White House, your son distracted the president with an impromptu dance. When you got home that night, what happened to him?

Would Thomas Jefferson have preferred the Beatles or the Stones?

After Justice Souter's opinion in the Kelo case endorsed the use of eminent domain to seize peoples' homes for a higher "public use," a group proposed that the town of Weare in New Hampshire increase its tax revenue by taking Justice Souter's property there so that a developer could build a resort called the Lost Liberty Hotel. Would your family ever vacation there?

The answer to those questions could provide far more entertainment and enlightenment than any one of those Senators - Kennedy, Biden, Schumer, et al. asking whether Roberts would overturn Roe v. Wade, where Roberts stands on the dormant commerce clause, 10th Amendment cases, or the rights of terrorists to have access to US civil courts.

And it would be a welcome diversion from hearing the Senators talking just to hear themselves on tv and see their quotes in print.