Jun 29, 2022 - Politics & Policy

McConnell: Blocking Obama's SCOTUS pick led to overturning Roe v. Wade

Oriana González

Picture of Mitch McConnell — Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that his decision to block former President Obama's Supreme Court pick to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016 led to the Roe v. Wade getting overturned.

What he's saying: "It’s the single-most consequential decision I’ve made in my public career," McConnell said in Kentucky on Wednesday, per Bloomberg. The senator also called the Supreme Court's opinion "a huge step in the right direction."

McConnell said that refusing to consider Merrick Garland's nomination led to President Trump putting Justice Neil Gorsuch on the bench, the first of the three Trump appointees that gave the Supreme Court a 6-3 conservative majority.
All of the justices appointed by Trump — Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — joined the court's opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, in overturning Roe.

Catch up fast: McConnell, when Garland was nominated, directed Senate Republicans to not consider Obama's pick. He then expanded the so-called "nuclear option" to get rid of the filibuster to confirm Supreme Court nominees in 2018.

Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett were confirmed with a simple majority.

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McConnell: Blocking Obama's SCOTUS pick led to overturning Roe v. Wade

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