Walker doubts Trump’s court pick would overturn Roe
Governor: Kavanaugh sides with retiring judge
MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker is downplaying the possibility President Donald Trump’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the high court’s landmark abortion ruling, despite Trump’s promise to nominate abortion opponents.
“I don’t foresee major changes. We’ll have to watch and see,” the GOP governor told reporters late Thursday after a campaign event.
Walker has been a longtime opponent of abortion but one who has often avoided talking about the issue in election seasons. His comments come at a time when abortion opponents nationally are excited by the prospect that Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh could provide a majority that would overturn landmark abortion rulings.
Kavanaugh, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has been selected to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy disappointed abortion opponents in 1992 when he helped write a 5-4 majority that reaffirmed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that determined women had a constitutional right to seek abortions. Kavanaugh clerked for Kennedy. “I think it’s a pretty giant leap to assume that a guy who clerked for a Supreme Court justice is going to be dramatically different from him in terms of interpreting the Constitution,” Walker said. “Clerks at any level — court of appeals, Supreme Court — have a pretty significant influence on the people they work for and vice versa. So, I don’t foresee major changes. We’ll have to watch and see.”
Walker made the comments as he gears up for his re-election.
T.J. Helmstetter, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, called Walker’s comments “nonsense.”
“This White House has made it clear what they are looking for in a Supreme Court justice: someone who will ban abortion and who will overturn protections for people with pre-existing conditions,” Helmstetter said in a statement.
“Walker’s views are far outside of the mainstream, and that’s why Wisconsin needs a new governor who can be counted on to respect women’s medical decisions and protect Wisconsin’s families from exorbitant healthcare fees.”
Walker made the comments in response to a question about what he thought of a Wisconsin law that abortion opponents say would automatically ban abortions in the state if Roe were overturned. Walker indicated he did not agree with the notion that Roe was likely to be overturned, calling that assumption a “big leap.”
For the second time, Walker also avoided saying whether he would sign a law that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. That typically happens around six weeks, at a time when many women do not know they are pregnant.
Iowa recently adopted such a law and is fighting a lawsuit over whether the measure is constitutional.
As he did in May, Walker did not rule out the possibility of signing a restriction like Iowa’s.
“I’ve signed some (abortion laws) in the last couple of years I think are very solid in the state,” Walker said Thursday.
Walker signed a bill in 2015 banning abortion after 20 weeks and one in 2013 requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Courts struck down the admitting privileges law as unconstitutional and taxpayers had to pay $1.6 million to Planned Parenthood and another abortion provider that sued over the law.