Judge Brett Kavanaugh¡¯s confirmation hearings to be a Supreme Court justice will take place in the shadow of the nomination of John Roberts to be chief justice 13 years ago.

Roberts was confirmed on a 78-22 vote in 2005. That¡¯s the most votes any justice has received for more than two decades. But some buyer¡¯s remorse about Roberts has set in since then.

His liberal critics think he hasn¡¯t lived up to his promise to the Senate to ¡°call balls and strikes¡± as a justice. They think that, with rare exceptions, he has instead been batting for the Republicans: voting to narrow affirmative action programs, weaken the Voting Rights Act, subject abortion to restrictions, deregulate campaign finance and so on.