New Revealing White House Documents Prove Kavanaugh Would Threaten Right to Abortion
For Immediate Release: Oct. 2, 2018 (Updated: Sept. 6, 2018, 3:18 p.m.)
Thursday morning, after a day of testimony claiming Roe v. Wade is “settled law” and Planned Parenthood v. Casey is “precedent on precedent,” newly released emails revealed that Judge Kavanaugh’s views on those landmark Supreme Court cases are much more precarious.
In Kavanaugh’s own words: “[The Supreme] Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so.”
When questioned, Kavanaugh was unable to provide a clear explanation for his contradictory statements.
In response, Nicole Clegg, Vice President of Public Policy of Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund, released the following statement:
“Judge Kavanaugh's emails directly contradict his testimony that Roe v. Wade is ‘settled law,’ and affirm what we have said before: Judge Kavanaugh is a threat to our personal liberties and constitutional rights, including the right to safe and legal abortion. If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh would present nothing less than a hostile attack on our reproductive rights: he would be the fifth vote deciding the future of Roe v. Wade and access to safe, legal abortion in this country. For more than a generation, Maine’s senators have stood up for women and their right to make personal, private decisions about their pregnancies. The future of these rights and the legacy of Maine senators as champions for women’s health hinges on this confirmation. We urge Senators King and Collins to reject Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.“
Earlier this morning a group of Planned Parenthood supporters delivered more than 50 personal letters from Northern Maine voters about their abortions, their fears, the importance of birth control, and their concerns with Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to Senator Collins’ Bangor office.
Supporters have previously delivered letters to her Lewiston, Augusta, Portland, DC, and Biddeford offices and will be going to her Caribou office later this month.
Background:
NYT: Leaked Documents From Kavanaugh’s Time in White House Discuss Abortion and Affirmative Action
“Judge Kavanaugh proposed deleting that line, writing: ‘I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so.’
“He was presumably referring to then-Justices William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia, along with Justice Clarence Thomas, conservatives who had dissented in a 1992 case that reaffirmed Roe, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The court now has four conservative justices who may be willing to overturn Roe — Justices Thomas and John C. Roberts Jr., Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — and if he is confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh could provide the decisive fifth vote.”