Supreme Court nominee John Roberts met with key senators from both parties yesterday as the White House rolled out a methodical campaign to secure his confirmation and Democrats posed their first probing questions. Abortion and access to internal government memos loomed as likely flash points as Democrats pointed toward the nationally televised proceedings. Meanwhile, civil liberties and women’s rights groups continue to protest against Roberts’s nomination. Last night in New York, City Council member Margarita Lopez spoke at a rally organized by Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Rights Action League.

• Margarita Lopez:
  “My reproductive system is mine and mine and mine only! It doesn’t belong to anybody else except me. I decide what happens to it, what I do to it and it’s mine to take care of it. Whatever I do is between me and my doctor when I have to make decisions about it. George Walker Bush! Keep your filthy hands out of my body!”