Conservative tells hearing that he would respect and apply U.S. Supreme Court precedent about abortion. It is clear that he is "avidly pro-life" and would likely lean toward restricting access to abortion from the bench. So the KoC questions are part of the ritual.

The NRO author goes to the heart of it: "Harris used Buescher’s membership in the Knights of Columbus as a pretext to insinuate that opposition to abortion, a core component of Catholic teaching on the dignity and value of human life, disqualifies an individual from the bench."

Would opposition to the death penalty factor in the qualifications of a judge? Or if a nominee quoted Pope Francis saying, “Builders of walls, be they made of razor wire or bricks, will end up becoming prisoners of the walls they build"?