You certainly have to give Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee credit for keeping the focus on their agenda, no matter what John Roberts says. Under questioning from Sen. Kyl of Arizona, Roberts said it was not the court's job to choose sides in pursuit of some vision of "progress" or "liberty." The Constitution envisions that those goals will be met when people and their representatives duke it out in the legislative process. That was followed almost immediately with a question from Sen. Kohl of Wisconsin: What would you do as a judge to prevent something like New Orleans from happening, in which poor people didn't have the same opportunities to escape as rich people? They probably can't hear Roberts' responses because of the little voices in their heads going, "FOLLOW THE SCRIPT, FOLLOW THE SCRIPT." Kyl, by the way, was eloquently sarcastic in noting that the Kelo decision, allowing more politically connected citizens to grab property from less well-connected citizens, represented an advance neither for progress nor freedom.
