GOP Sen. Susan Collins, a key vote on Trump’s SCOTUS nominee, says, “A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have.” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/FXt2sJN7fT
— ABC News (@ABC) July 1, 2018
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Sunday that she wouldn’t vote for a Supreme Court nominee who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Here is how she phrased it.
“I believe very much that Roe v. Wade is settled law as it has been described by Chief Justice [John] Roberts,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“It has been established as a constitutional right for 45 years, and was reaffirmed 26 years ago. So a nominee’s position on whether or not they respect precedent will tell me a lot about whether or not they would overturn Roe v. Wade. A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have, and that would indicate to me a failure to respect precedent, a fundamental tenet of our judicial system.”
Some think that Justice Anthony Kennedy‘s retirement, effective July 31, will lead to the end of Roe. University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone suggested to Law&Crime on Wednesday that this could happen in a few years if President Donald Trump nominates a Gorsuch-type to the bench, and a GOP-controlled Senate confirmed the decision, possibly giving a fifth vote to overturn the ruling. Conservative justices currently on the bench “have never taken Roe seriously,” and have a history of overturning precedent in cases like 2008’s District of Columbia v. Heller, and the 2010 Citizens United decision. Just last week, conservatives decided to do away with 41 years of precedent regarding public sector union fees in Janus v. AFSCME.
[Screengrab via ABC]
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