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ABC News Correspondent: An 'All-Male Majority' of the Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade 'Would Not Be Legitimate'

September 28, 2018

ABC News chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran said Friday that it would "not be a legitimate action" for an "all-male majority" of the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

"Overturning Roe vs. Wade by an all-male majority, two of whom have had credible accusations of sexual misconduct lodged against them, would not be a legitimate action," Moran said on ABC, in a clip flagged by NewsBusters.

Moran was discussing what would happen to the nation's highest court if the Senate confirms Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who he referenced in his comment along with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Three women have accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when he was in high school and college; the federal judge has adamantly denied each allegation.

Back in 1991, when Thomas went through the confirmation process, Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment when he supervised her at the Department of Education and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Thomas denied the accusations.

Moran said that, if Kavanaugh is confirmed, women will feel "annihilated," and that he should "take into that lifetime appointment a sense of the woundedness [sic] of so many people in the country, and factor that in his decisions."

"I can't imagine the feeling of the millions and millions of women, and others who found Dr. Ford very, very credible," Moran said, referring to Christine Blasey Ford, one of the women who accused Kavanauagh of sexual assault. "If, as seems likely, Republicans are able to get ... Judge Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court, they're just going to feel annihilated inside."

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday voted along party lines 11-10 to send Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor for a chamber-wide confirmation vote. At the committee meeting, Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.), one of the key swing votes in Kavanaugh's confirmation process, requested to delay the Senate confirmation vote to allow the FBI to investigate the allegations against Kavanaugh. Hours later, President Donald Trump ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation into the allegations, but stipulated that the probe "must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week."