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their desire to only appoint judges who affirmatively
pledge they are against abortion rights.
Pence’s remarks come as a new Gallup poll shows
58% of Americans support the court, the highest ap-
proval rating in more than a decade.
Speaking with the Christian Broadcasting Net-
work, Pence did not clearly set out a litmus test
for court nominees, but he said recent rulings at
the Supreme Court had been a “wake-up call” for
anti-abortion voters around the country “who un-
derstand, in a very real sense, the destiny of the
Supreme Court is on the ballot in 2020.”
U.S. Supreme Court building. Credit: Diego M.

Roberts has long resisted the notion that the jus- Radzinschi / ALM

tices are “politicians in robes,” and he has pushed Pence said this about the Supreme Court’s deci-
back even more recently against the idea that judges sion in the Louisiana abortion clinic case: “The
should vote, or do vote, in lockstep with the party recent decision, and again a narrow Supreme Court
of the president who appointed decision, striking down a Louisi-
them. This past term, Roberts ana pro-life law that only said the
“obviously has centered himself doctors working in abortion clin-
not just physically but figuratively ics would have to have admitting
at the very center of the court,” “Look, we have great privileges at local hospitals. That’s

former federal appeals judge Ken- respect for the institution a very modest restriction on
neth Starr said last week. “The of the Supreme Court of abortion providers, but a narrow

upshot was some surprising re- the United States, but Chief majority in the Supreme Court
sults.” still said it was unacceptable.”
Roberts was in the majority in Justice John Roberts has Pence, however, neglected to
been a disappointment to
a ruling that struck down a Loui- conservatives,” Pence told say the Supreme Court had ruled
siana law that said reproductive against a nearly identical Texas
services doctors needed to have Christian Broadcasting law four years earlier, and that
hospital admitting privileges Network. Roberts voted with conservative

within 30 miles of a clinic, and colleagues to uphold the Texas
Roberts was in the majority in a abortion restrictions. In the Loui-
recent order that said restrictions siana decision, Roberts said he
on houses of worship in Nevada—a church called could find no difference between the Louisiana law
Calvary Chapel was the petitioner—were justifiable and the Texas law that the justices invalidated in
state efforts to help stop the spread of the novel coro- 2016 because it placed an undue burden on a wom-
navirus. an’s right to abortion.
“Look, we have great respect for the institution of Despite joining the Louisiana majority, Roberts,
the Supreme Court of the United States, but Chief in a separate concurring opinion, articulated a nar-
Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment rower standard for judging abortion restrictions
to conservatives, whether it be the Obamacare de- which would appear to make it easier for future re-
cision or whether it be a spate of recent decisions strictions to survive scrutiny.
all the way through Calvary Chapel,” Pence said in Conservative columnist Hugh Hewitt in June
the CBN interview, a clip of which was posted late praised Roberts for his handling of the decision
Wednesday. in the case involving the Trump administration’s

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