Sen. Murray slams Kavanaugh's Roe v. Wade email

Sen. Patty Murray is warning that a newly released email shows that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is a fifth vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.

In a news conference with other Senate Democrats on Thursday, Murray said the email is evidence that Kavanaugh is pretending he would not overturn Roe.

“That's what he has been saying in his hearings so far, and he's hoping that will fool women across the country into thinking their rights and freedoms are safe," Murray said. "We know that is not true."

Kavanaugh sent the email, first reported by the New York Times, to a Republican Senate aide in 2003 while reviewing a draft of an op-ed piece supporting two judicial nominees.

Kavanaugh was an aide to President George W. Bush at the time.

"I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so," the email says, according to the Times and other news media.

The Roe v. Wade decision has been a key part of questions aimed at Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. He has deflected questions about how that ruling was decided.

Democrats have been fighting to get the committee to release thousands of documents relating to Kavanaugh’s time in the White House. This email was one them.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California read the email aloud in the hearing Thursday. But Kavanaugh said that he was referring to legal scholars’ opinion, not his own.

Murray, who is not a member of the committee, said Kavanaugh would join other conservatives on the Supreme Court to form a majority to overturn Roe.

“Women everywhere should be concerned,” she said. “And it leads to another question on the minds of many of us: What else are they hiding? What else is in these documents that only a few have been able to see?”