{"id":1550803,"date":"2022-07-12T14:34:18","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T18:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1550803"},"modified":"2022-07-12T14:34:31","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T18:34:31","slug":"no-kavanagh-and-gorsuch-didnt-lie-to-the-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-kavanagh-and-gorsuch-didnt-lie-to-the-senate\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Kavanagh and Gorsuch Didn\u2019t Lie To The Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fno-kavanagh-and-gorsuch-didnt-lie-to-the-senate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1550803&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Screen-Shot-2022-07-12-at-1.22.35-PM-1024x495-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Lieu sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tedlieu\/status\/1546568769748606976\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a> to Chuck Schumer Monday requesting \u201cthat the Senate make its position clear on whether Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch lied under oath during their confirmation hearings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The letter is part of the left\u2019s wishcasting efforts to impeach \u201cconservative\u201d justices who uphold the Constitution as written. Though it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if Schumer, who\u2019s launched his own <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/08\/democrats-wanted-to-intimidate-justices-now-its-getting-dangerous\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unprecedented<\/a> attacks on the court, acquiesced to the demands of two backbenchers. They\u2019re both on Twitter, after all.<\/p>\n<p>Nancy Pelosi, Susan Collins, Joe Manchin, and others have also dishonestly claimed that Kavanaugh misled them on <em>Roe<\/em>, either during his confirmation interview or under oath. \u201cEvery single one of them said under oath that they would actually preserve\u00a0<em>Roe<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0Kirsten Gillibrand <a href=\"https:\/\/wskg.org\/gillibrand-some-supreme-court-justices-lied-about-roe-v-wade-during-confirmation-hearings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lied<\/a> in May. \u201cThat is absolutely fraud, and there should be consequences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thehill\/status\/1546698612775714823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked<\/a> by CNN Monday if he regretted voting for Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, Manchin said, \u201cI regret any time someone that you\u2019re confirming in any public position is not being direct or truthful.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll get to the \u201ctruthful\u201d part of Manchin\u2019s contention in a moment, but how can a nominee be \u201cdirect\u201d about cases that do not exist? It\u2019s a preposterous demand, indicative of how unserious Democrats are about the Supreme Court\u2019s role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all ask the questions,\u201d Manchin went on, \u201cand you all heard it in their hearings. So, yeah, it\u2019s very disappointing.\u201d What did we hear during the hearings? When asked about <em>Roe, <\/em>Gorsuch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/CHRG-115shrg28638\/pdf\/CHRG-115shrg28638.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a> that \u201ca good judge will consider it as precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court worthy as treatment of precedent like any other.\u201d When Kavanaugh was asked what he meant by <em>Roe<\/em> being \u201csettled law,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/CHRG-115shrg32765\/pdf\/CHRG-115shrg32765.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">answered<\/a> that the case was \u201centitled the respect under principles of <em>stare decisis<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conceding that long-established precedents should be treated with more weight does not preclude the possibility that those decisions were wrongly decided in the first place and should be overturned. This has been the position of <em>every<\/em> Supreme Court nominee in modern history. As Schumer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/08\/21\/us\/politics\/kavanaugh-collins-abortion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed out<\/a> at the time, and as everyone understood, it is \u201cnot as simple as Judge Kavanaugh saying that Roe is settled law. Everything the Supreme Court decides is settled law until it unsettles it. Saying a case is settled law is not the same thing as saying a case was correctly decided.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Collins also claims she was misled, but her own words betray that contention. In a speech announcing a yes vote, Collins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.collins.senate.gov\/newsroom\/senator-collins-announces-she-will-vote-confirm-judge-kavanaugh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> that \u201csomeone who believes that the importance of precedent has been rooted in the Constitution would follow long-established precedent except in those rare circumstances where a decision is \u2018grievously wrong\u2019 or \u2018deeply inconsistent with the law.\u2019 Those are Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s phrases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, they are. <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/19-1392_6j37.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Dobbs<\/em><\/a> majority, which Kavanaugh joined, argues that, \u201c[L]ike the infamous decision in <em>Plessy v. Ferguson<\/em>, Roe was also <em>egregiously wrong<\/em> and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided\u201d and that \u201cRoe was <em>egregiously wrong<\/em> from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences\u201d (emphasis mine). So, clearly, and correctly, Kavanaugh believes the court\u2019s decision to extricate abortion from the democratic process and dictate its legality in 1973 was \u201cegregiously\u201d  \u2013 one suspects that Collins confused the word \u201cgrievous\u201d with \u201cegregious,\u201d though both convey the same idea \u2013  decided, and in conflict with the law.<\/p>\n<p>In his concurrence, Kavanaugh also notes that precedent like <em>Roe<\/em> should be only overruled when \u201cthe prior decision is not just wrong, but is <em>egregiously wrong<\/em>.\u201d He goes on to say that <em>stare decisis<\/em> requires respect for the \u201caccumulated wisdom of the judges who have previously addressed the same issue,\u201d but it is \u201cnot absolute, and indeed cannot be absolute.\u201d Every current member of the SCOTUS has overruled precedent, he points out, and every one of the 48 justices appointed in the past 100 years has overruled precedent, and \u201ca substantial number of very significant and longstanding precedents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Collins also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mkraju\/status\/1466098082903470086?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a> that Kavanaugh \u201cagreed with what Justice Roberts said at his nomination hearing in which he said that it was settled law.\u201d What did Roberts say? When asked what he meant by \u201csettled law\u201d re <em>Roe<\/em>, the future justice explained that it was \u201csettled as a precedent of the court,\u201d not as the law in perpetuity. Nowhere in his testimony does he say it could not be overturned. In fact, he avoids answering that specific question on numerous occasions.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats seem to be under the impression that extraconstitutional decisions that prop up their political objectives become magically impregnable to argument: a deference they do not give the actual Constitution. You might recall Democrats pressing Amy Coney Barrett to answer whether Roe was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/live-amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-confirmation\/2020\/10\/13\/923355142\/barrett-says-abortion-rights-decision-not-a-super-precedent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">super precedent<\/a>.\u201d That was nothing compared to liberal Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, then chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who <a href=\"https:\/\/constitutioncenter.org\/blog\/hunting-for-super-precedents-in-u.s-supreme-court-confirmations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked<\/a> Roberts during his confirmation hearing whether he agreed that <em>Roe<\/em> had become \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PNF_pwkP6gg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">super-duper<\/a>\u201d precedent. The future chief justice answered that Roe was \u201clike any other precedent of the court,\u201d and was immediately put under \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y0cF2piwjYQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">double-secret probation<\/a>\u201d by the Senate. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But that is exactly the point Kavanaugh made, as well.\u00a0And Gorsuch. And Coney Barrett. And Alito. And Kagan. And Sotomayor. In 2009, the then-Supreme Court nominee told then-Colorado Sen. Mark Udall that <em>Heller<\/em>, the ruling codifying gun ownership as an individual right, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/wbna31255491\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">would<\/a> \u201cguide her decisions in future cases.\u201d Of course, within a year of becoming a justice, Sotomayor was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2010\/jun\/29\/sotomayor-targets-guns-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">targeting<\/a>\u00a0<em>Heller<\/em>. If Democrats had their counter-constitutional majority, does anyone believe they would care about the precedents in <em>Heller<\/em>, <em>Citizens United<\/em>, <em>Janus<\/em>, or <em>Dobbs<\/em>, for that matter?<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s certain, however, is that not once has an originalist nominee promised that precedent can\u2019t be overturned. If they did, they\u2019d be unfit for the Supreme Court. \u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist. Harsanyi is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of five books\u2014the most recent, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Eurotrash-America-Reject-Failed-Continent\/dp\/0063066017\/\">Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent<\/a>. His work has appeared in National Review, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reason, New York Post, and numerous other publications. Follow him on Twitter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidharsanyi\/\">@davidharsanyi<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Lieu sent a letter to Chuck Schumer Monday requesting \u201cthat the Senate make its position clear on whether Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch lied under<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1550803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1550803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1550803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1550803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1550803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}