By Christopher Williams,Staff Writer

Sen. Susan Collins said Monday she “is inclined” to support John Roberts Jr. as chief justice.

Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings started Monday on Roberts’ nomination.

Collins had met with him for about an hour at her office Friday to help decide whether she would vote for his appointment to be the nation’s top judge.

Although she disagrees with some of the opinions he wrote while he serving in prior presidential administrations, Collins said she was satisfied that he shared her view that legal precedent should be honored, especially the controversial 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

Roberts had written during his tenure as deputy solicitor general in the administration of the first President Bush that Roe v. Wade was “wrongly decided” and should be changed because there was no underlying constitutional right supporting it.

Collins asked whether Roberts thought the high court should overturn such a precedent-setting case. He told her he didn’t think it should be “done lightly,” even in a case where the earlier court had been in error. That would be a “jolt to the judicial system,” he told her.

“That’s the kind of judicial response I’m looking for,” she said.

Despite his view that there was no constitutional basis for the Roe v. Wade decision, Roberts assured Collins that as a Supreme Court justice, he would recognize rights not explicitly spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. A so-called right to privacy is such an example stemming from the 1973 abortion case.

Collins said she would keep an open mind during the hearings and reserve final judgment until the time comes to cast her vote.

“One never knows,” she said.

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