I don’t live in a bubble, Brett Kavanaugh tells abortion rights critics

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he will respect the court’s precedents on legal abortion.

Supreme Court nominee judge Brett Kavanaugh answers questions during the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he will respect the court’s precedents on legal abortion and he understands the significance of the issue.

“I don’t live in a bubble, I live in the real world,” he said in his first substantive comments on the issue during the second day of his confirmation hearing in Washington. Judge Kavanaugh was responding yesterday to questions from Democrat senators who fear the conservative judge may seek to overturn the Roe v Wade ruling legalising abortion in the US.

The future of abortion rights is the most contentious of many ­issues that have divided the Left and Right over the President’s nomination of the 53-year-old conservative judge to the nation’s highest court.

While Judge Kavanaugh did not say whether he agreed with Roe v Wade, his comments suggested he believed the court had settled the issue. He gave no guarantee the court would not revisit the issue.

“One of the important things to keep in mind about Roe v Wade is that it has been reaffirmed many times over the last 45 years, as you know, and most prominently, most importantly reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v Casey in 1992,” he told the hearing.

Judge Kavanaugh said Roe was “settled as a precedent of the ­Supreme Court” and as such it deserves respect from the judges.

He said the reaffirmation of Roe decision in the Casey case amounted to a “precedent on precedent”.

Judge Kavanaugh made his comments in response to Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein, who told him many thousands of American women had died as a result of illegal abortions before the 1973 Roe decision.

“How you make a judgment on these issues is really important to our vote as to whether to support you or not because I don’t want to go back to those death tolls,” she said. “I truly believe that women should be able to control (their) own reproductive systems.”

Judge Kavanaugh said: “I understand your point of view on that. I understand the importance of the issue. I don’t live in a bubble. I live in the real world.”

Earlier, former Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned that Judge Kavanaugh could not be trusted to protect the Roe ruling.

“If Brett Kavanaugh becomes a Supreme Court justice, will he help gut or overturn Roe v Wade, which legalised abortion in America? Yes, of course he will,” she tweeted.

“Anti-abortion groups have endorsed Kavanaugh, considering him a reliable vote to overturn Roe.”

Judge Kavanaugh’s comments came as he was subject to intense questioning by senators on a range of issue from gun rights to special prosecutors to presidential pardons. He avoided a direct answer to questions about whether he believed a sitting president should be investigated by prosecutors.

In 2009, the judge wrote an ­article suggesting sitting presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investi­gations or interviews from prosecutors while in office. It has been speculated that the article may have played a role in his being nominated by Mr Trump, who is under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Yesterday, Judge Kavanaugh said his comment was only an idea he had expressed in an article and did not reflect how he might judge such an issue in a court. “They were some ideas for congress to consider. They were not my constitutional views,” he said.

He declined to say whether he thought a president had to respond to a court subpoena, saying the question was hypothetical and it would be wrong to answer it.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump yesterday praised Judge Kavanaugh for his handling of the highly partisan hearing. “I saw some incredible answers to very complex questions,” he said.

“He’s an outstanding intellect. He’s an outstanding judge. He was born for the position. I’ve watched his statements, and honestly, they’ve been totally brilliant.

“I think the other side is grasping at straws.”

Democrats have attacked Judge Kavanaugh in a bid to prevent his confirmation, which would give the Supreme Court a 5-4 conservative majority and tilt its ideological balance for decades. The hearing is expected to continue another day. A vote is due by the end of the month.

Barring an unexpected revolt against Judge Kavanaugh by moderate Republican senators, he will be confirmed and could take up his role in the court by October 1.