Following her two-hour meeting with Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday, Senator Susan Collins of Maine told reporters that the Supreme Court nominee has made clear to her he believes the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade is “settled law.”
The centrist Republican lawmaker said she spoke to Kavanaugh “at length” about judicial precedent on abortion, adding that the recent nominee agrees with Chief Justice John Roberts’s contention that the issue is settled as a matter of law, NBC News reported.
Roe is “settled as a precedent of the court, entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis. And those principles, applied in the Casey case, explain when cases should be revisited and when they should not. And it is settled as a precedent of the court, yes,” Roberts said in his confirmation hearing.
Collins, who previously said she had some “concerns” about Kavanaugh’s confirmation, seemed to indicate he had assuaged her fears. Due to her unique status as a pro-choice Republican, she has emerged as a frequent target of Democratic activists and lawmakers seeking to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The Senate is scheduled to begin Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings on September 4.
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