COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on Thursday said he’ll only vote to confirm U.S. Supreme Court nominees who say the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide was wrong.
Hawley during a speech on the Senate floor compared the abortion ruling to the 1857 Dred Scott decision that declared African Americans couldn’t be citizens and Plessy v. Ferguson, a 1898 case upholding the idea of segregated “separate but equal” facilities.
Both precedents have since been invalidated by constitutional amendments and court challenges.
“Yes, I do mean to compare Roe to those earlier cases because Dred Scott and Plessy and Roe belong together,” Hawley said. “They are the worst miscarriages of justice in our history.”
Hawley’s comments come after the high court, by a 5-4 ruling on June 29, struck down a Louisiana legal challenge to abortion.
“If you believe Roe was rightly decided, you believe that un-elected judges should have the power to enact their own social views,” Hawley said.
Hawley said he’ll only vote for Supreme Court nominees who disavow the abortion decision on the record and before they’re nominated.
