VP Mike Pence Did Not Ask Supreme Court Nominee About Roe V. Wade
An anti-abortion rights group praised Judge Neil Gorsuch's nomination.
— -- During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump pledged to appoint an anti-abortion justice to the Supreme Court, but Vice President Mike Pence told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos he did not ask the president’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch directly about the landmark Roe v. Wade case.
Stephanopoulos noted that Judge Gorsuch has never ruled directly on abortion rights, and asked the vice president, “Are you confident that he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade on the court?”
The vice president responded, “As someone who, like the president, cherishes the sanctity of life, that’s an important issue to me, as it is for millions of Americans.”
Pence told Stephanopoulos he spoke to Gorsuch and other finalists considered by Trump’s search for nomination to the high court.
“The president asked me to be a part of a small group that interviewed all the finalists for this decision. But what the president directed us to look for was someone who would be faithful to the Constitution,” Pence said.
Pressed by Stephanopoulos on whether he asked Gorsuch directly about the landmark Supreme Court decision that women have the right to have an abortion, the vice president responded, “I did not.”
“What the president charged us to do was to find someone who had the background, the experience, the unimpeachable credentials, the character, but also just to be faithful to the Constitution as written,” Pence said. “I'm confident that in Judge Neil Gorsuch, we'll have someone on the court who will keep faith with the Constitution.”
The anti-abortion rights group Susan B. Anthony List praised Trump's nomination of Gorsuch, calling him an "exceptional choice."
"President Trump has made an exceptional choice in nominating Neil Gorsuch to carry on the legacy of the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. In nominating Judge Gorsuch, President Trump has kept his promise to nominate only pro-life judges to the Supreme Court," the group said in a statement Tuesday.