Sen. Collins Suggests Kavanaugh, Gorsuch Lied During Senate Testimony About Respecting Supreme Court Precedent

After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling which gave national access to abortion, Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, claimed that Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh misled her in the confirmation process on the topic of abortion.

In a statement, Collins said, “This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me, where they both were insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon.”

Collins’ statement has already drawn criticism from Jonathan Turley, a contributor for Fox News, who dismissed Collins’ claims.

“That is not true,” Turley said in a post. “The justices never pledged to vote to preserve Roe as opposed to generally respecting such precedent.”

In May, Collins was among the politicians targeted by pro-abortion activists who held her responsible for her role in confirming both Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. She had been the deciding vote in the decision to confirm Kavanaugh and had been involved in confirming Gorsuch as well.

Collins received backlash on Twitter with the primary message being the words “F— Susan Collins.”

“Maybe its[sic] not as simple as saying F— Susan Collins but for the record, F— SUSAN COLLINS.” wrote Actor Billy Eichner on Twitter.

“A special f— you to Susan Collins today,” wrote commentator Bryan Tyler Cohen in a similar post.

After the ruling was released, however, Democrats were quick to defend Collins’ claims. “Susan Collins is not a liar,” said former Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill on MSNBC. “I believe her, which means that not only is Kavanaugh a politician masquerading in a robe, he’s a liar on top of that.” 

The 5-4 vote returned the decision on abortion to the hands of the states.

“We end this opinion where we began. Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the Court’s opinion.