President Donald Trump recently announced his nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court Justice following the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy.
His decision was met with widespread support from the right, including a social media endorsement from Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy.
Kavanaugh’s nomination was not met with the such eager approval from many on the left, particularly with proponents of women’s reproductive rights. President Trump’s repeated calls for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, in combination with his recent conservative Supreme Court pick, have many abortion rights activists on the defensive, fearing a reversal of Roe in the near future.
The U.S. Circuit Court judge and former White House Staff Secretary has yet to provide a concrete answer as to whether he believes the landmark 1973 case was rightfully decided. The only written decision citizens have to look toward to extrapolate
Kavanaugh’s belief on abortion is a 2017 appellate court case entitled Garza v. Hargan. The court ruled in favor of a 17-year-old immigration detainee requesting access to an abortion.
Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting opinion on Garza stating, “the Supreme Court has repeatedly said that the government has permissible interests in favoring fetal life, protecting the best interests of minor, and not facilitating abortion, so long as the government does not impose an undue burden on the abortion decision.”
With Roe being one of the most well-known and disputed rulings in Supreme Court history, the absence of a legal opinion from Kavanaugh is alarming to many. The new Supreme Court justice has the power to sway the court’s vote and more pressingly, the ability to affect the reproductive rights of half the population.
Despite Kavanaugh’s prior commitment to strictly upholding precedent, Supreme Court justices have far more authority to overturn precedent, including the 45-year-old ruling on legal abortion. At this point, we have no way of knowing if the nominee plans to heed President Trump’s cries to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Like former Justice Antonin Scalia, Kavanaugh is an originalist and adheres closely to the textual meaning of the Constitution. Unlike Justice Scalia, he has not publicly stated his opinion on the legal basis for abortion. Many worry Kavanaugh will mirror Scalia’s philosophy, insisting the lack of textual basis for abortion gives it no legal basis.
With his official appointment approaching and his opinion on abortion yet to be uncovered, many Americans feel left in the dark. One can only hope Kavanaugh will stick to his precedent-upholding tendencies and leave Roe v. Wade alone.
Hannah Kleinpeter is a 20-year-old mass communication senior from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.