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(CNSNews.com) -- Comments made by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in his former capacity as White House counsel, have some conservatives warning that he would be the wrong choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"The Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is," Gonzales responded in the summer of 2003 when asked by Dr. John Willkie, president of the Life Issues Institute, to comment on whether the document that created the U.S. government addressed the issue of abortion.

Gonzales, a long-time legal adviser to George W. Bush, both when Bush was governor of Texas and since he's been president, continues to be one of the top names mentioned for the Supreme Court position that O'Connor announced on Friday she was vacating.

The exchange between Willkie and Gonzales took place during a White House meeting with a group of conservative business leaders. The Third Branch Conference, a coalition of mostly conservative groups interested in the nominations process, emailed Willkie's transcript of the comments to conservatives Wednesday, along with the record of a question-and-answer session from an earlier meeting Gonzales attended in May of 2003.

During that exchange, Willkie -- who is also president of the International Right to Life Federation and a past president of the National Right to Life Committee -- asked Gonzales more directly about his views on abortion.

Willkie: We're hearing conflicting reports about your position on abortion. Can you tell us where you stand?

Gonzales: As a judge, I have to make judgments in conformity with the laws of our nation.

Willkie: Would you say that, regarding Roe v. Wade, stare decisis would be governing here?

Gonzales: Yes.

Stare decisis is Latin for "to stand on the decisions" and is used to describe the current American judicial philosophy that once an issue has been decided by the Supreme Court, future justices will not reconsider the finding.

Asked if he was certain that the transcripts of Gonzales' remarks were accurate, Willkie was emphatic.

"I sat down with a number of other lead people who had attended that meeting and I said, 'Let's get this data right down. We don't want to be misquoting this thing.' And we did get the verbatim thing down, which everyone agreed to," Willkie told Cybercast News Service Wednesday. "What has been printed is a verbatim (transcript)."

Willkie said Gonzales' stated belief that the meaning of the Constitution was subject to the whims of the members of the high court "sent a chill" up his spine.

"The discussion was about Roe v. Wade and the legality of abortion," Willkie explained. "And when, in that context, he says, 'it is what the Supreme Court says it is,' ... [it] is also a very chilling statement ... that 'this is unchangeable, this is stare decisis, this is one we will respect, this is one we won't change.' That's the context in which it was stated."

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