Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., chided Judge Brett Kavanaugh Tuesday after the Supreme Court nominee told Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that Roe v. Wade is “settled law,” calling that claim a “dodge” and arguing that Kavanaugh hasn’t fully laid out his views on abortion.
Schumer made the comments hours after Kavanaugh sat down with Collins and minutes before his own scheduled meeting with the judge. The New York Democrat said Kavanaugh needs to say whether he believes the landmark abortion case was ruled correctly.
“Let’s be clear — this is not as simple as Judge Kavanaugh saying that Roe is settled law,” Schumer told reporters. “Everything the Supreme Court decides is settled law until it unsettles it. Saying a case is settled law is not the same thing as saying it was correctly decided. It’s no different than the typical judicial dodge of saying you respect stare decisis.
“On a decision as important to the people as Roe, we need to hear more than blase comments about it being settled law. That’s been a dodge. That’s been an excuse,” Schumer said, adding that it hasn’t been followed by the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch. “Of course we know Roe is settled law. We need to know if Judge Kavanaugh believes it was correctly decided. That’s the key question I will ask him. Otherwise, no one can be assured he won’t vote to unsettle it.”
Kavanaugh’s meetings with Collins and Schumer are two of six he had slated for Tuesday, along with sit-downs with Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
Collins, along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are among the most important possible Republican votes for Kavanaugh given their pro-choice stance on abortion. Murkowski is expected to meet with Kavanaugh later this week.
[Related: Brett Kavanaugh offers praise of ‘trailblazing’ women as Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski decide fate]
Schumer is expected to address the press later in the day Tuesday after his meeting with Kavanaugh.
