DENVER – For the second time since moving into the White House a year and-a-half ago, President Donald Trump has nominated a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh is currently a judge on the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals and his confirmation hearings this week, like those of most nominated justices, were filled with protesters and controversy. One of the hottest topics, whether his appointment to the court could ultimately lead to Roe v Wade being overturned. So far, Kavanaugh has said one way or the other.
“Kavanaugh’s inability to address whether he considers Roe v Wade to be a law he would not overturn is consistent with how justices have handled hot button issues in the past so that’s not particularly unusual and perhaps it’s appropriate,” Karen Breslin, a political science professor at the University of Colorado Denver, told Anne Trujillo on this weekend’s Politics Unplugged. “But on the other hand, we’re at this historical moment where they now have substantial votes to overturn whether a woman has a right -- or reject the idea that a woman has a right -- to an abortion, so a lot is at stake with this nomination.”
Breslin believes Kavanaugh has the “tremendous credentials” needed be a Supreme Court justice and will likely be confirmed. But she says what that will ultimately mean for the direction of the court remains to be seen.
“What’s really at stake though is whether the Supreme Court will continue to find within the constitution a category of rights largely associated with privacy issues like sexual intimacy, how to raise a family, whether you have a family. Will the Supreme Court continue to recognize those as protected right under the Constitution?”
Politics Unplugged airs Sundays at 4:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Denver7 and noon on K3-KCDO.