“Murkowski voted for Amy Coney Barrett when Trump himself proclaimed that he was appointing justices particularly to overturn Roe,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
“She and Collins betrayed the nation’s reproductive rights after they had been singularly able to stopping the slide. They don’t get to play sufferer now.”
The senators, who each declare to help abortion rights, supplied key help to justices appointed by former President Donald Trump who now seem poised to intestine Roe. v. Wade. (Collins voted to verify Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018; Murkowski voted to verify Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020).
Trump pledged during his 2016 campaign to nominate Supreme Courtroom justices who would overturn the choice. All three of his picks had been considered as probably to take action. As nominees, these justices repeatedly averted direct statements about Roe, together with whether or not they’d vote to overturn it. Nonetheless, they usually commented on the significance of precedent.
After Politico reported on the leaked draft Monday, Collins and Murkowski expressed disappointment and claimed they had been misled by sure justices throughout their affirmation hearings.
“If this leaked draft opinion is the ultimate choice and this reporting is correct, it will be utterly inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh mentioned of their hearings and in our conferences in my workplace,” Collins mentioned in an announcement.
Murkowski instructed reporters that the leak “rocked my confidence within the courtroom, as a result of I believe there was some representations made close to precedent and settled legislation.”
The present opinion is only a draft, and justices can nonetheless change their votes. If Roe is struck down, greater than 26 states would probably ban or limit abortion entry, regardless of polling that has consistently shown a majority of People consider Roe v. Wade ought to be upheld and that choices about abortion ought to be left as much as girls and their docs.