No One Likes Amy Coney Barrett’s Abortion Answer

Amy Coney Barrett could no longer avoid the question that has defined her nomination to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court: “Do you agree,” asked Senator Dianne Feinstein of California during confirmation hearings today, “that Roe was wrongly decided?”

“I completely understand why you are asking the question,” Barrett responded, looking grave. But “I can’t pre-commit or say, ‘Yes, I’m going in with some agenda,’ because I’m not. I don’t have any agenda.” The question may be unavoidable, but that doesn’t mean she will answer it.

We will not know by the end of Barrett’s nomination hearings how she would rule on an abortion-related case. Nearly 50 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that American women have a constitutional right to end their pregnancies, and since then, the boundaries of the abortion debate have largely been determined by nine unelected justices who have no accountability to voters. For many years, as the Court has continued to uphold abortion rights, this fact has frustrated conservatives, many of whom and return the question to the states to decide.