Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh may vote to overturn Roe v. Wade if confirmed to the Court, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) indicated Sunday, despite other senators’ claims that Kavaugh told them Roe was “settled law.”
“The bottom line here is there is a process to overturn a precedent,” Graham told CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday, asked if he hoped Kavanaugh will overturn Roe.
“I think he understands that process,” Graham continued. “He will apply it. If it were up to me, states would make these decisions, not the Supreme Court. But it is a long-held precedent of the Court. It will be challenged over time. I hope he will give it a fair hearing, and I know he will.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who supports abortion rights and has herself called Roe settled law, said after meeting with Kavanaugh that the nominee “agreed with what Justice Roberts said at his nomination hearing, in which he said it was settled law.”
Graham offered a different assessment, one he repeated on Fox News Sunday in an interview with Chris Wallace.
“I wouldn’t vote for anybody who said that every decision [of] the Supreme Court cannot be revisited,” he said. “They’re revisited through a process. There’s a process of overturning long precedent.”
Graham added: “If there’s a conflict that makes it to the Supreme Court, he will apply the test of precedent to that decision, Roe v. Wade, and every other precedent.”
Despite Democrats’ protests that Republicans have refused to request Kavanaugh’s documents from his time as White House staff secretary, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold its first hearing on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Tuesday.
“He would be disqualified, in my opinion, if you would not listen to both sides of the story and decide accordingly,” Graham said Sunday.
“Roe v. Wade is going to be challenged at state level,” he added. “There are all kinds of laws out there. Some may work their way up to the Supreme Court. He will give great deference, I’m sure, to Roe v. Wade, but it can be overturned like every other decision, but that will be up to the facts and the record.”
In fact, he probably already written the holding, although every conservative on the court would love to be the one who writes the majority opinion. A junior member? No way will he get to write it.
It’s almost as though Graham were surreptitiously trying to sink Kavanaugh’s nomination by saying things like this. I mean, will this help Kavanaugh in any way?
Kavanaugh WILL vote to overturn Roe. There’s no question about that. What’s with the bullshit speculation other than as cover to sneak him in. He’ll be confirmed and thrust his religious “never had a hard day and don’t know much about them” life on us. Roe is toast as is a bunch of other stuff. Elections will become GOP sure shots and most of what we take for granted will be liquidated to provide cash for the 1% and Churches. Forget Roe. Social Security, Medicare, prison reform and so much more are going to suffer too.
Won’t hurt him. Graham will vote to confirm him as will all the other GOP’ers and he’s in. It’s what Comey and Putin wanted.
Russia, if you’re listening, release the 100,000 Kavanaugh documents that are being kept secret by the White House because they know that Kavanaugh is a partisan, duplicitous, poltroon who makes a mockery of the constitution. He’s there for one reason, to weaponize the constitution against the commons, the public trust, minorities and the poor. Everything Trump touches dies, and I fear that this includes the constitution.