In January 1989, at a meeting arranged by Connecticut state senator Regina Smith, Joseph Lieberman and several members of his staff had a private conversation with officials of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). A few months before, during the closing weeks of his successful campaign against incumbent Lowell Weicker, Lieberman had appealed for support to the Catholic archbishop of Hartford, the late John Whealon. And word had since reached Washington about Lieberman's assurances to Whealon: If he were elected to replace Weicker, he would prove himself reasonably prolife. So the NRLC had reason to be hopeful about the new man from Connecticut. And he did not disappoint.
According to a contemporaneous typewritten account of his get-together with the pro-life lobby, Lieberman said he would have voted to confirm Robert Bork to the Supreme Court had he been in the Senate at the time. And future such nominees? "I'm not going to vote against a judicial nominee just because he's pro-life," Lieberman promised. "I'm not going to apply a litmus test."
Nowadays, of course, Lieberman's running mate, Al Gore, insists that "a Supreme Court majority appointed in a Gore administration would support a woman's right to choose." Period. So how will the senator handle his apparent disagreement with Gore over the acceptability of judges opposed to Roe v. Wade? By denying the disagreement, naturally. Lieberman staffers have disputed the reports of two eyewitnesses to the Whealon meeting. No word yet about Lieberman's version of the NRLC meeting.