Democratic Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ted Lieu of California on Monday shared a letter on Twitter that calls on the Senate to issue a finding on whether Supreme Court justices lied under oath during their confirmation hearings.
The letter, addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and dated July 8, states that "at least two" justices—Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh—"directly lied" to senators about their views on Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood.
We cannot allow Supreme Court nominees lying and/or misleading the Senate under oath to go unanswered.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 11, 2022
Both GOP & Dem Senators stated SCOTUS justices misled them. This cannot be accepted as precedent.
Doing so erodes rule of law, delegitimizes the court, and imperils democracy. https://t.co/yZW6BKnqFG
Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were on the majority side of the Supreme Court ruling last month in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case. The ruling resulted in overturning the landmark 1973 Roe decision that held that the Constitution protected a woman's right to an abortion prior to the viability of the fetus.
"We respect the right of individual Justices to have their own views on various constitutional issues," the joint statement said. "But we cannot have a system where Justices lie about their views in order to get confirmed. That makes a mockery of the confirmation power, and of the separation of powers."
The letter continued, "We respectfully request the Senate issue a finding—through a resolution or another kind of public statement—on whether these Justices lied under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee."
Lieu has previously accused some justices of lying about their stance on Roe v. Wade, even taking to Twitter about the matter on the morning that the decision on Dobbs was announced. Shortly before the ruling was shared publicly, Lieu posted a message about a Gallup poll that found confidence in the Supreme Court was at a new low.
"Multiple conservative Supreme Court Justices led the American people to believe that Roe v. Wade was settled precedent during their confirmation hearings," Lieu wrote in the June 24 tweet. "The American people now know these Justices lied. And now public confidence in the Court is at its lowest level in history."
On the day that the ruling was announced, Ocasio-Cortez marched with abortion-rights advocates in front of the Supreme Court. She also tweeted her disapproval of the decision and vowed to fight the ruling.
"People will die because of this decision," she said. "And we will never stop until abortion rights are restored in the United States of America."
In their letter, Ocasio-Cortez and Lieu quoted from the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, in which both men said that the Roe ruling had been "reaffirmed." The letter also claims both justices "directly misled Senators" outside of the confirmation hearings.
"Our Constitutional Republic requires that the Justices of the third branch of government tell the truth during their confirmation hearings," Ocasio-Cortez and Lieu wrote. "Their power comes from a public willing to believe in their integrity. Justices who lie to the American people in order to get confirmed shred the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.
"We request that the Senate make its position clear on whether Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch lied under oath during their confirmation hearings. We must call out their actions for what they were before the moment passes, so that we can prevent such a mendacious denigration of our fundamental rights and the rule of law from ever happening again."
Newsweek reached out to Ocasio-Cortez and Lieu for further comment.
