Republican senator Susan Collins (ME) said on Tuesday that the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights is “completely inconsistent” with what Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh said during their confirmation hearings and meetings.
“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” Collins said in a statement. “Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”
Collins’ comments comes after Politico publish a draft majority opinion Monday night authored by Justice Samuel Alito, striking down Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey which upheld a right to have an abortion that was established under Roe.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes. “Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he added. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
According to the report, fellow conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett voted with Alito.
Collins, a key moderate who supported both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch told reporters that her “statement speaks for itself,” when asked if she was misled by both men during the confirmation process.
