Senator Grassley. (file photo)
Senator Chuck Grassley says it’s no secret he has hoped Roe v Wade would be overturned. as a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion seems to indicate is imminent.
“I’ve let people know for 40 years where I stand on Roe,” Grassley said this morning. “I’ve had the same position for decades.”
But during his weekly conference call with radio reporters from Iowa, Grassley said there’s no way to predict any of the Supreme Court nominees he’s supported recently would vote to overturn the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.
“It is possible that they would and that’s it,” Grassley said, “but there’s no way members of congress can control what people do once they get on the bench.”
Grassley led the Senate Judiciary Committee as it refused to consider President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court and then confirmed two of President Trump’s nominees. “You don’t aim for any outcome in choosing anybody to be on the Supreme Court,” Grassley said this morning. “I look for strict constructionists. People who are going to interpret law, not make law.”
Last night, Politico published the leaked draft of an opinion indicating five justices had voted to overturn Roe v Wade.
“The leak was surely a monumental breach of trust within our judicial system and hasn’t happened within my years in the Senate,” Grassley said.
Grassley would not “speculate” on what abortion-related restrictions Republican-led congress might pass if the leaked document matches up with the opinion the court releases. Grassley drew cheers a month ago in a speech to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition when he discussed his influence in shaping the Supreme Court.
“You know we might have an opportunity here before the end of June for the Supreme Court either by a 6-3 vote or a 5-4 vote to overturn Roe v Wade,” Grassley said April 9. “You probably my remember my role in not moving ahead with the Garland nomination, not holding a hearing on it because we were hoping we’d get a Republican president and we did get a Republican president…and overturning Roe v Wade is a real possibility now.”
Two of the Democrats who hope to run against Grassley in the General Election say the future of women’s rights is at stake. Mike Franken said the “pending” decision is not a “partial rollback,” but “one of the most disastrous decisions the court has ever made.” Abby Finkenauer said like “millions of women across the country,” the news Roe is likely to be overturned “makes me scared and sick” and “ready to defend reproductive rights.” Glenn Hurst said it’s clear “ultraconservative nationalist legislators” have politicized the Supreme Court and the ruling would “criminalize body autonomy.”