Trump justices ‘lied to Senate’ over Roe v Wade, Schumer says, Collins complains nominees were ‘inconsistent’

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against the Supreme Court on Tuesday after a draft opinion to overturn Roe v Wade leaked late on Monday evening, accusing former president Donald Trump’s judicial nominees of lying to the US Senate.

“The Republican-appointed justices recorded votes to overturn Roe v Wade will go down as an abomination,” he said. “Several of these conservative justices, who were in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the US Senate, ripped up the Constitution, and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation.”

Mr Schumer blamed Republican senators during a fiery floor speech on Tuesday morning after the draft opinion – originally reported by Politico – for voting for right-wing judges, including the Supreme Court Justices who wrote the leaked draft opinion.

The Democratic leader said that he intended to hold a vote for legislation to codify abortion into law. The Senate voted on legislation in February that passed the House last year. But the legislation failed when Senator Joe Manchin voted against it and three Democrats – Senators Dianne Feinstein of California, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Raphael Warnock – did not vote on the legislation.

Mr Schumer said the point of the vote was to see how Senators voted.

“Every American is going to see on which side, every Senator stands,” he said.

“I urge every American to make their voices heard this week and this year,” he said.

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who voted for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh but against Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, said in a statement that if the draft opinion was indeed accurate, it would contradict what justices said in their confirmation hearings.

“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” she said in a statement. “Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”