聽證會如何回答問題，太有技巧了。前些日子拜登提名的大法官人選拒絕定義“女人” ，理由是她不是生物學家

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/05/03/alito-history-roe-wade/

Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who, though a conservative, had been a key vote in protecting abortion rights. At the confirmation hearings, his letter and the memo were a major focus of questioning by both Democrats and pro-abortion-rights Republicans such as Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) tried to pin down Alito’s views, asking point-blank, “John Roberts said that Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. Do you believe it is the settled law of the land?”

Roe was “an important precedent” that had “been challenged on a number of occasions,” Alito responded. The Supreme Court had “reaffirmed the decision, sometimes on the merits, sometimes, in Casey, based on stare decisis [using previous precedent].”

“The more often a decision is reaffirmed, the more people tend to rely on it,” he said, and “I think that’s entitled to considerable respect, and of course, the more times that happens, the more respect the decision is entitled to, and that’s my view of that. So it is a very important precedent that —”

Okay, Durbin interrupted, but is it the settled law of the land?

“If settled means that it can’t be re-examined, then that’s one thing,” Alito equivocated. “If settled means that it is a precedent that is entitled to respect as stare decisis, and all of the factors that I’ve mentioned come into play, including the reaffirmation and all of that, then it is a precedent that is protected, entitled to respect under the doctrine of stare decisis in that way.”

“How do you see it?” Durbin asked. Alito answered with the careful and evasive language that has become a standard of these types of hearings, saying that since there were cases about abortion before the court, he couldn’t comment.

Justice Clarence Thomas had been similarly evasive in 1991, testifying that he had no personal opinion on Roe v. Wade. Just a few months later, he joined the dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, claiming Roe had been incorrectly decided — and prompting some abortion-rights activists to argue that Thomas had perjured himself.

But just as they had for Thomas, Alito’s evasive answers worked: He was confirmed on a 58-to-42 vote — at the time one of the narrowest votes ever to confirm a justice.