Sen. Olympia Snowe had a private meeting with Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr. last week.

During the meeting, Alito tried to convince Snowe that he respects precedent and understands the importance of decisions like Roe in American life.

What Snowe really wanted to know – what everyone really wants to know – is whether Alito would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made access to abortion a Constitutional right.

Alito won’t say.

Some argue that he can’t, that revealing his position on Roe would then make him unable to sit in judgment on cases dealing with the controversial decision. But that doesn’t make sense.

Regardless of whether he says it out loud, Alito surely has thought about the Roe ruling. In 1985, while applying for a job as deputy assistant to Attorney General Edwin Meese, Alito wrote in a letter first obtained by the Washington Times that “the Constitution does not protect a right to abortion.” He went on to say that “I personally believe very strongly” in this legal position.

Perhaps he’s changed his mind during the last 20 years. Perhaps he’s more assured than ever that abortion is not protected by the Constitution. We don’t know.

While there are many questions about Alito’s conservative decisions while serving as a judge in other areas of law, those are all on the undercard. The main event is the question of abortion.

Snowe has said she’s committed to protecting abortion rights, and for her the issue will play an important part in her decision. She said, as it stands, there’s no way to guarantee how Alito would vote on abortion. “I’ll never have an absolute assurance,” she said.

But this issue isn’t just important to one side.

Opponents of abortion often call the procedure murder. In letters to the editor of the Sun Journal, writers call it an immoral slaughter that has cost the country a generation of children. They are not ambiguous, and their world view demands that they do all they can to limit and then outlaw the procedure.

Just as Alito – like other nominees before him – dodges the question on abortion to Snowe, he does the same thing to the other side. Abortion foes are asked to believe he’ll vote against Roe without any real confirmation.

Political advertisements from both sides are beginning to air in Maine, and some of Alito’s former clerks will be in Maine next week, all in an attempt to apply pressure on Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins, another moderate Republican who supports abortion rights.

Once appointed to the Supreme Court, justices often are forthright how they feel about a particular issue. Justice Clarence Thomas makes no secret of his opposition to Roe, nor does Justice Antonin Scalia. On the other side, it’s clear that Justice David Souter supports constitutional protection for abortion, as does Justice Anthony Kennedy. But they are not excluded from hearing abortion cases and shouldn’t be.

It may be impossible to resolve the divisions on abortion, but saying where you stand should be pretty straightforward.

If a nominee believes that Roe was wrongly decided, he or she should say so. Instead, nominees perform an elaborate ritual where they give clues about their beliefs without making real revelations. It’s all part of an attempt to woo senators on the fence, provide them cover for a difficult vote or fool the rest of us concerned about the direction of the court.