WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani Friday assured conservatives he will nominate Supreme Court justices they would find acceptable.
Speaking in Washington to the Federalist Society, a group of influential conservative lawyers, Giuliani said he would nominate justices in the vein of the current conservative wing of the court.
Giuliani said Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would be his models for future nominees if he became president.
"We're seeking to find judges to understand the important concept that judges exist to interpret the law, not to invent the law," Giuliani said. "We believe in the rule of law, not in the rule of judges. Our constitutional principles teach us that we have to recognize the limitations on power as a way to protect our liberties."
Some social conservatives have been wary of the former New York mayor becoming the Republican Party's standard bearer because of his positions on social issues, including his support for gay rights as well as restrictions on gun ownership.
Despite those concerns, Giuliani did not address in his speech what may be his biggest sticking point with social conservatives -- his support for abortion rights.
Giuliani raised red flags among conservatives in April when he said a "strict constructionist judge can come to either conclusion about Roe against Wade" and decide to either overturn or let stand the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in America more than three decades ago.
"They can look at it and say, it has been the law for this period of time, therefore we are going to respect the precedent," Giuliani said.
However, many conservative legal scholars argue a judge with a "strict constructionist" philosophy would overturn Roe v. Wade.
That Giuliani did not mention Roe v. Wade during his speech left some in the audience leery.
"I think he hasn't really shown that beyond labels he understands what judicial activism really is and what principled judicial restraint is, and it would be good if he would show that," said Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
"I think it's really impossible for someone who's committed to principles of judicial restraint not to oppose Roe and not to seek justices who'd restore abortion policy to democratic processes," he added.
But Ted Olson, the former solicitor general for the Bush administration, said it would be inappropriate for Giuliani to ask nominees if they would overturn Roe because it would disqualify them from considering abortion cases.
"Rudy has the principle not to do that and the courage to say, 'I'm not going to make people promise what they're going to do before I appoint them to the bench,' " Olson said. "That's the right thing to do."
Olson, a prominent lawyer in the conservative movement, said he would be comfortable with judges that a President Giuliani would nominate.
"I have known him for 25 years," Olson said, "and I have no doubt he will appoint the right kind of people as judges." E-mail to a friend 
CNN's Dana Bash and Evan Glass contributed to this report.
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