Roberts' Senate hearings begin Monday on the Hill

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he will not ask Supreme Court chief justice nominee John Roberts whether he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion.\nSen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., did say he planned to ask Roberts, the president's pick to succeed the late William H. Rehnquist as chief justice, whether there is a right to privacy in the Constitution.\nRoberts' confirmation hearing to be the nation's 17th chief justice will begin Monday afternoon. The first day, however, is expected to be taken up by the opening statements of the committee's 18 senators. Roberts is not expected to speak late that afternoon.\nSpecter said Sunday he was uncertain whether Roberts would favor overturning the Roe v. Wade decision from 1973 that established a right to abortion. Specter supports a woman's right to choose to end her pregnancy.\n"I think it is inappropriate to ask him head-on if he's going to overturn Roe, but I believe that there are many issues close to the issue, like his respect for precedent," Specter told NBC's "Meet the Press."\nSpecter said asking Roberts, now an appeals court judge, whether the high court correctly found a right to privacy in the Constitution when rationalizing its abortion decision would be fair "and I intend to ask it."\nBut Specter said Roberts is free to refuse to answer questions. \n"It has been my experience that the hearings are a subtle minuet with nominees answering as many questions as they think they have to in order to be confirmed," the chairman said in his opening statement, released in advance.