Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted Monday that anyone President Trump picks to be the next Supreme Court justice will be “hostile” to the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights.
“It is near impossible to imagine that President Trump would select a nominee who isn’t hostile to our healthcare law and healthcare, who isn’t hostile to a woman’s freedom to make her own healthcare decisions,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, just hours before Trump was set to announce his pick.
“Whomever the president selects tonight, if that nominee is from the pre-approved list, selected by [Leonard] Leo and the Heritage Foundation, everyone ought to understand what it means for the freedom of women to make their own healthcare decisions and for the protection for Americans with pre-existing conditions,” Schumer said. “Those rights will be gravely threatened.”
Schumer argued the nominee has an “obligation to share their personal views” on Roe v. Wade and the healthcare law during hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee and meetings with senators. He also argued that stare decisis and precedent have become “meaningless” ahead of nominations to the court.
Trump has reportedly made his decision for Kennedy’s replacement, which was reportedly down to two names — Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Judge Thomas Hardiman, who was the runner-up to Justice Neil Gorsuch last year when Gorsuch was selected.
