Harris says she "never believed" Trump SCOTUS nominees over Roe v. Wade
Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN in a new interview Monday that she did not believe former President Trump's Supreme Court nominees would keep the Roe v. Wade ruling from being overturned.
What she said: "I never believed them. I didn't believe them. That's why I voted against them," Harris told CNN, referring to Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
- "It was clear to me when I was sitting in that chair as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that they were ... very likely to do what they just did," she told CNN's Dana Bash. "That was my perspective. That was my opinion. And that's why I voted like I did."
Details: The Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade last week, allowing states to regulate and ban abortions moving forward.
- Harris voted against the nominations of Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barrett, all three of whom suggested Roe v. Wade was a long-held precedent that couldn't be overturned easily, NBC News reports.
Flashback: Harris previously criticized senators for knowing Barrett's view on Roe v. Wade too, during her nomination hearing.
Zoom out: The comments come after Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said they felt misled by Kavanaugh, who had told them he wouldn't act to overturn Roe v. Wade.
- “This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me, where they both were insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon," Collins said in a statement, per NBC News.
- Manchin said he was "deeply disappointed" in the justices too.