{"id":232821,"date":"2020-10-14T08:21:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T13:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=232821"},"modified":"2020-10-14T01:40:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T06:40:05","slug":"amy-coney-barrett-grilled-roe-v-wade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/amy-coney-barrett-grilled-roe-v-wade\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Amy Coney Barrett grilled on Roe v. Wade during second day of Senate hearings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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During Judge Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s <\/span>second day<\/span><\/a> of confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee, nearly every senator on the committee asked about her views on <\/span>Roe v. Wade<\/span><\/i>, the 1973 case establishing legal abortion throughout the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite describing herself as a textualist and an originalist, Judge Barrett insisted she is not a carbon-copy of her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia\u2014who in his nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court ruled in favor of effectively overruling <\/span>Roe v. Wade<\/span><\/i> in his dissent in <\/span>Planned Parenthood v. Casey<\/span><\/i>. \u201cNot all originalists agree,\u201d she told Senator Lindsey Graham<\/strong> (R-S.C.).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 OCTOBER 13: Lindsey Graham (R-SC) questions Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett during the Senate Judiciary Committee on the second day of Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on October 13, 2020 in Washington, DC. Barrett was nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who passed away in September. (Photo by Demetrius Freeman – Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Barrett also explained judges cannot rule with agendas and must wait for \u201ccases and controversy\u201d in order to decide on issues like abortion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Graham then discussed his bill that would disallow abortion on demand after five months, saying \u201cit must be a terrible death to be dismembered by abortion.\u201d He asked Barrett if this law was challenged, whether she would be able to \u201clisten to both sides.\u201d <\/span>
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\n<\/span>\u201cOf course,\u201d she said, \u201cI will do that in every case.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Graham also pressed Judge Barrett on her thoughts about \u201csubstantive due process,\u201d which is the judicial doctrine that creates the unwritten constitutional rights to abortion and birth control. Barrett agreed it is fair to say there is a \u201cgreat debate\u201d about the limitations of these rights.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHave precedents of the Court been overruled before?\u201d Graham asked. <\/span>
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\n<\/span>Barrett replied that <\/span>Brown v. Board of Education<\/span><\/i> overruled <\/span>Plessy v. Ferguson<\/span><\/i>, to end the legal regime of \u201cseparate but equal\u201d for racial segregation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Senator Dianne Feinstein<\/strong> (D-Calif.), who in a 2017 hearing for Judge Barrett\u2019s nomination to the Seventh Circuit said the dogma of Barrett\u2019s Catholic faith \u201clives loudly\u201d in Barrett, preceded her questioning of Barrett by asking the judge to introduce her children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 OCTOBER 13: Ranking member U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) during the Senate Judiciary Committee on the second day of Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on October 13, 2020 in Washington, DC. Barrett was nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who passed away in September. (Photo by Demetrius Freeman – Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After praising Judge Barrett as a mother, the senator shifted focus to a \u201cwoman\u2019s fundamental right\u201d to abortion, quoting the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, saying, \u201cthe decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman\u2019s life, to her wellbeing and dignity.\u201d She then asked Barrett, \u201cDo you agree with Justice Scalia\u2019s view that <\/span>Roe<\/span><\/i> was wrongly decided?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Barrett invoked Justice Kagan, saying she would not \u201cgrade precedent,\u201d and furthermore that, \u201cin an area where precedent continues to be pressed and litigated, as is true of <\/span>Casey<\/span><\/i>, it would be\u2026 wrong and a violation of the canons for me to do that as a sitting judge.\u201d Barrett explained that sitting judges should not give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to precedent because it would signal an improper bias to potential litigants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Feinstein continued to press the issue. \u201cIt\u2019s distressing not to get a straight answer,\u201d Feinstein said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then referring back to Barrett\u2019s \u201clovely family,\u201d Feinstein said, \u201cYou understand all the implications of family life,\u201d and asked Judge Barrett to \u201ccommit\u201d herself to a position on <\/span>Casey<\/span><\/i>. Barrett again promised to \u201cfollow the law\u201d for abortion or any other issue that comes before the Court.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n