National Catholic Register, a conservative publication, published an article this morning filled with praise for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination one anti-choice activist called “a pivotal moment, not just for this movement, but for the nation.”
The story quoted Robert George, a Princeton University professor and source of intellectual muscle for the anti-LGBTQ equality and anti-choice movements. George said Kavanaugh is “very much in the mode of Neil Gorsuch.”
Also quoted was Marjorie Dannenfelser, who runs the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-choice political group. Dannenfelser spoke at a rally last year at which dominionist speakers prayed for God to remove Supreme Court justices so that new Trump-nominated replacements could bring about a “massive shift” on the court and overturn Roe v. Wade. Dannenfelser said in 2015 that providing exceptions for cases of rape in a federal 20-week abortion ban bill was politically necessary but “abominable.” She said the anti-choice movement will be “all in” to rally support for Kavanaugh’s confirmation:
“We have a man who’s devoted to interpreting the text of the Constitution as it is written and as it applies to today’s debate,” said Dannenfelser, who added that the Susan B. Anthony List and other pro-life organizations across the country will be “all in” to rally support for Kavanaugh.
“We’ve got a battle ahead of us,” Dannenfelser said. “It’s a moment the pro-life movement has been looking for for decades. It’s a pivotal moment, not just for this movement, but for the nation, so that the will of the people can perhaps finally find its way into the law.”
The Register story includes quotes from several people reassuring anti-choice activists that comments Kavanaugh made as an appeals court nominee pledging to follow Roe as precedent are irrelevant, because he would have an entirely different role as a Supreme Court justice.
Richard Garnett, a Notre Dame law professor, told the Register that while he’s confident that Kavanaugh will not answer a direct question about Roe at his confirmation hearings, it would be “a reasonable inference that he thinks the court made a mistake in Roe and that the court overreached when it created this right to abortion.”
