Opinion: In today’s pages: Torture, Supreme Court politics and budget woes

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In anticipation of the upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee endurance test to be faced by President Obama’s Supreme Court pick, the editorial board has some advice. To spare everyone involved the Bork-era partisanship, ‘inane’ questions such as whether ‘the opposite of being dead is being alive?’ (which was posed to John Roberts) and flat-out unbelievable answers -- Clarence Thomas saying he’d never though much about Roe v. Wade-- the Times editotial board offers some guidelines. It starts by deferring to the president (but not acquiescing). The board, however, is far from siding with the president on his recent decision to withhold photos of detainees being tortured.

Over in Op-Ed, contributing editor D.J. Waldie warns that neighborhods will suffer if Sacramento forces already struggling cities and counties to loan the state 8% of their property tax revenue. Meghan Daum ruminates on children’s author Judy Blume and how her message urging donations to Planned Parenthood for Mother’s Day kicked off a controversy with abortion foes. Rounding out the page, Lori Pottinger of the environmental group International Rivers says U.S. efforts to help Ethiopia would be better spent on climate change adaptation and anti-drought measures than a poorly planned dam.