Washington, USA - If John Roberts is confirmed, he will be the fourth Roman Catholic on the Supreme Court, an all-time high that is focusing attention on how faith might influence law on the high court.
From abortion to capital punishment to physician-assisted suicide, the upcoming term offers plenty of issues in which the Catholic church has strong interest. But history shows a justice's religion does not provide a roadmap for rulings.
Abortion, the main religious matter swirling around Roberts' nomination, provides a telling example. The Catholic church's policy is that abortion is wrong in every instance.
Two of the Catholics on the current court -- Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- are abortion foes. Scalia, whose son Paul is a priest, and Thomas are sometimes seen walking together to the court after attending Mass on holy days of obligation.
But the third Catholic -- Anthony Kennedy -- voted with the majority in a 5-4 ruling in 1992 reaffirming the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, despite some apparent inner turmoil. The late Justice Harry Blackmun said Kennedy worried "about the attention he would get as a Roman Catholic reaffirming Roe."
The lone Catholic on the Supreme Court when Roe was decided in 1973, William Brennan, supported liberal access to abortion.
Many would like to hear Roberts' position on abortion: An AP-Ipsos poll released last week found 52 percent of Americans want Roberts to reveal his stand on the issue before the Senate's confirmation vote.
Roberts has not spoken publicly since being tapped by Bush but has been meeting individually with senators on Capitol Hill. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said this week he did not know whether the nominee was being asked about how his faith might affect his work on the court.
"But I do know that Judge Roberts has said in previous testimony that personal beliefs or views have no role whatsoever when it comes to decisions that judges make," McClellan said.
Writing in the online edition of the liberal magazine The American Prospect, Roberts foe Adele Stan contended that President Bush was "playing the Catholic card" by nominating Roberts, who would be the 10th Catholic in the court's history.
"Bush is betting he's bought himself some insulation -- any opposition to Roberts, particularly because of his anti-abortion record, will likely be countered with accusations of anti-Catholicism," she said. For that reason, she thinks Catholic senators should take the lead in grilling Roberts.
Among the Democratic senators expected to sharply question Roberts during his confirmation hearing are Catholics Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Dick Durbin of Illinois.
The Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which opposes Roberts, says all indications are "he's on a trajectory dramatically different from the way church-state law has gone the last few decades."
But Lynn also insists that "the issue is entirely his judicial philosophy, not where he goes to church."
Joseph Cella of Fidelis, a Catholic group that backs conservative judges, warned senators against targeting Roberts "because of his Catholic faith or family life." Some liberal groups have noted that Roberts' wife, Georgetown University-trained attorney Jane Sullivan Roberts, has been a board member of the anti-abortion Feminists for Life.
Robert Destro of the Catholic University of America law school said he'd be surprised if religion came up overtly during confirmation hearings because the Constitution states that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office."
There's no question about Roberts' strong Catholic background.
Growing up in Indiana, he attended the Notre Dame grade school in Michigan City and La Lumiere School, a Catholic college preparatory school in LaPorte.
His wife is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, where she now serves on the board along with Justice Thomas. She's also a board member of the John Carroll Society, which sponsors a Mass for judges and lawyers at the opening of each Supreme Court term.
Judging from past rulings, five of the current justices would uphold Roe v. Wade against any bid to let states regain the power to set overall abortion law. Roberts could, however, affect the upcoming term's decision regarding parental notification for minors seeking abortions. And a shift of one vote could allow laws to ban so-called partial-birth abortion.
Among the first cases the court is scheduled to hear this fall is a challenge to Oregon's law allowing physician-assisted suicide, something the Catholic church opposes. If confirmed, Roberts also is sure to rule on cases involving capital punishment, which the church frowns on.
Shannen Coffin, a Catholic friend of Roberts and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Bush administration, predicted Roberts would "separate personal philosophy from legal philosophy. Being Catholic, I don't think, affects him any more than if he's Hindu."