After the Supreme Court released its bombshell decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) seemed to realize he’d been played by Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, two justices he voted to confirm.
“I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans,” Manchin wrote in a statement.
The Catholic senator said he’s still anti-abortion but supports legislation to safeguard the rights previously protected by Roe. He said he’s hopeful that Democrats and Republicans can draft such legislation, though there hasn’t been much consensus to do so in the past.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) also admitted Friday that she’d been duped. “This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me,” she said.
Poor Susan Collins Is Very Sad Kavanaugh and Gorsuch Lied to Her
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) agrees with Sen. Joe Manchin: They’ve been duped. In a statement Friday following the explosive decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, she denounced what she called a “sudden and radical jolt” to the country. Collins, who voted yes on nominations for Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch wrote that the pair had backtracked on what they said during their confirmation hearings and during closed-door meetings with Collins.
“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,” she said. Manchin (D-WV) similarly said Friday that the justices had been dishonest when discussing stance on Roe in the Supreme Court nomination process.
“Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative,” Collins wrote.
