US Senators accuse Supreme Court judge of lying to them about abortion

U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R) and Joe Manchin (D) accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday of lying to them about his stance on abortion during his controversial confirmation process in 2018.

In statements to the media, Collins – one of the most progressive Republican senators – and Manchin – one of the most conservative Democrats – noted that Kavanaugh made them believe four years ago that his preference was to preserve the status quo of jurisprudence on the issue. ..

However, Kavanaugh—whose assertion in 2018 was more controversial when an alleged episode of sexual assault came to light when he was a college student—was one of six Supreme Court justices who voted Friday in favor of repealing legal protections for abortion. In the USA in effect since 1973.

“I feel cheated,” Collins said. For his part, Manchin included another judge, Neil Gorsuch, in the same package, saying that at the time he trusted both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch when they told him they would respect case law.

Collins and Manchin voted in favor of the two justices’ assertions, and notably in Kavanaugh’s case, he might not have had enough support if both senators opposed his assertion.

The United States Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, on Friday ended protecting the right to abortion, in force since 1973, with a controversial decision, which, according to President Joe Biden, set the country back 150 years.

The ruling was approved with the support of six of nine judges from the highest US judicial body and maintains a Mississippi law restricting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

However, the conservative majority in the Supreme Council decided to go ahead and repeal the precedents established in the past by the same court that protects this right.

The decision was not surprising because a draft ruling was leaked to the media last May.