5 highlights from Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings

By Michael Gryboski, Editor
Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Roe v. Wade

Pro-life activists try to block pro-choice activists as the annual March for Life passes by in front of the U.S. Supreme Court January 22, 2015, in Washington, D.C. Pro-life activists gathered in the nation’s capital to mark the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein of California asked Jackson about her views on the controversial Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling legalizing abortion nationwide.

The question comes amid speculation that the current high court could soon overturn or weaken the precedent in a case involving Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.

Feinstein mentioned how, when grilled by the Senate, Trump nominees Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett both said that they considered Roe v. Wade and the later decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey to be “settled law.”

“I do agree with both Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Barrett on this issue,” responded Jackson. “Roe and Casey are the settled law of the Supreme Court concerning the right to terminate a woman’s pregnancy.”

“They have established a framework that the court has reaffirmed, and in order to revisit, as Justice Barrett said, the Supreme Court looks at various factors, because stare decisis is a very important principle.”