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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHey Susan Collins - so you think you were right about Kavanaugh re abortion rights?
Here is a reminder on her expectations
http://time.com/5417444/susan-collins-kavanaugh-vote-transcript/
The key part below - (my comment - I have a feeling you are wrong, Susan....we need to work hard to ensure she does NOT get relected!)
There has also been considerable focus on the future of abortion rights based on the concern that Judge Kavanaugh would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. Protecting this right is important to me.
To my knowledge, Judge Kavanaugh is the first Supreme Court nominee to express the view that precedent is not merely a practice and tradition, but rooted in Article III of our Constitution itself. He believes that precedent is not just a judicial policy
it is constitutionally dictated to pay attention and pay heed to rules of precedent. In other words, precedent isnt a goal or an aspiration; it is a constitutional tenet that has to be followed except in the most extraordinary circumstances.
The judge further explained that precedent provides stability, predictability, reliance, and fairness. There are, of course, rare and extraordinary times where the Supreme Court would rightly overturn a precedent. The most famous example was when the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, correcting a grievously wrong decisionto use the judges termallowing racial inequality. But, someone 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 grievously wrong or deeply inconsistent with the law. Those are Judge Kavanaughs phrases.
As Judge Kavanaugh asserted to me, a long-established precedent is not something to be trimmed, narrowed, discarded, or overlooked. Its roots in the Constitution give the concept of stare decisis greater weight such that precedent cant be trimmed or narrowed simply because a judge might want to on a whim. In short, his views on honoring precedent would preclude attempts to do by stealth that which one has committed not to do overtly.
Noting that Roe v. Wade was decided 45 years ago, and reaffirmed 19 years later in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, I asked Judge Kavanaugh whether the passage of time is relevant to following precedent. He said decisions become part of our legal framework with the passage of time and that honoring precedent is essential to maintaining public confidence.
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)<snip>
"Once upon a time, Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine, announced her plans to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court -- and, in doing so, explained that he was definitely not a threat to reproductive rights because of how very much he loved precedent. She assured us all that she would never, ever vote for someone whom she believed was a threat to Roe v. Wade.
There has also been considerable focus on the future of abortion rights based on the concern that Judge Kavanaugh would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. Protecting this right is important to me. To my knowledge, Judge Kavanaugh is the first Supreme Court nominee to express the view that precedent is not merely a practice and tradition, but rooted in Article 3 of our Constitution itself. He believes that precedent is not just a judicial policy, it is constitutionally dictated to pay attention and pay heed to rules of precedent. In other words, precedent isn't a goal or an aspiration. It is a constitutional tenet that has to be followed except in the most extraordinary circumstances.
Because really, who can say that just because a guy allegedly tried to rape someone once, or because he has a history of voting against reproductive rights, that he's going to actually vote to overturn Roe v. Wade?
On Thursday, Brett Kavanaugh was given his first chance to show us all that Susan Collins was right and we were all just being silly, paranoid fools. Brett Kavanaugh did not do that."
https://www.wonkette.com/remember-that-time-susan-collins-said-brett-kavanaugh-wouldnt-be-a-threat-to-reproductive-rights