Feinstein then outright asked Kavanaugh what he meant by “settled law” and whether he believed Roe v. Wade to be correct law. Kavanaugh said he believed it was “settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court” and should be “entitled the respect under principles of stare decisis,” the notion that precedents should not be overturned without strong reason.
“And one of the important things to keep in mind about Roe v. Wade is that it has been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years, as you know, and most prominently, most importantly, reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992,” Kavanaugh said then.
Shortly afterward, Feinstein interrupted Kavanaugh to note that she had sat through nine confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justices, who had expressed similar sentiments about stare decisis.
“And when the subject comes up, the person says, ‘I will follow stare decisis,’ and they get confirmed, and then, of course, they do not,” she told Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh did not answer Feinstein directly, instead pivoting to how he understood “how passionate and how deeply people feel about this issue.” He went on at length to talk about how Planned Parenthood v. Casey had reaffirmed Roe, making it “a precedent on precedent.”
“I understand the importance of the issue. I understand the importance that people attach to the Roe v. Wade decision, to the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision,” Kavanaugh said. “I do not live in a bubble. I understand. I live in the real world. I understand the importance of the issue.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...tion-decision/
Lets see how this plays out. No opinion is out yet.
Ignoring precedent and kicking this to the States is a political opinion.
If the SCOTUS becomes political .. it ceases to be viewed as an important independent check n balance to our 3 branch system.
Justices are supposed to follow the law, not their own deeply held religious beliefs and political ethos.