Joe Biden admitted it first, telling the audience at Friday night’s New Hampshire Democratic presidential debate that, if elected president, he would have a litmus test on abortion for any justice nominated to the Supreme Court. Bernie Sanders went even further, pledging to “never nominate any person to the Supreme Court or the federal courts in general who is not 100 percent pro-Roe v. Wade.”

Their fellow 2020 contender Elizabeth Warren concurred. But it was the billionaire political novice Tom Steyer who put the unspoken reality into words: “We all have the litmus test. Everyone in this row feels the same about Roe v. Wade. Everybody on this stage feels the same way about a woman’s right to choose.”