Abortion debate: What Trump’s SCOTUS nominees said about overturning Roe v. Wade during their confirmation hearings
The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Following the leak of a draft majority opinion, allegedly written by Justice Samuel Alito based on a 5-4 ruling, Yahoo News looks back on how President Trump’s three Supreme Court appointees, all of whom are expected to vote in favor of overturning Roe, discussed the subject during their nomination hearings.
Video Transcript
JUSTICE AMY CONEY BARRETT: Judges can't just wake up one day and say, I have an agenda. I like guns, I hate guns, I like abortion, I hate abortion, and walk in like a royal queen and impose their will on the world. You have to wait for cases and controversies, which is the language of the Constitution, to wind their way through the process. I can't pre-commit, or say, yes, I'm going in with some agenda, because I'm not. I don't have any agenda. I have no agenda to try to overrule Casey. I have an agenda to stick to the rule of law and decide cases as they come.
JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH: And one of the important things to keep in mind about Roe v. Wade, is that it has been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years, as you know. And most prominently, most importantly, reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood versus Casey in 1992.
JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH: Roe versus Wade, decided in 1973, is a precedent the United States Supreme Court. It has been reaffirmed. The reliance interest considerations are important there, and all of the other factors that go into analyzing precedent have to be considered. It is a precedent of the United States Supreme Court, as reaffirmed in Casey in 1992, and in several other cases.
