Toobin Frets Over Kavanaugh on Abortion, Gays; Work for Ken Starr

July 10th, 2018 10:09 AM

On Tuesday's New Day on CNN, during discussions of President Donald Trump selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court, CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin again fretted over the possibility that the Court will overturn Roe v. Wade and allow discrimination against homosexuals.

He also suggested nefarious motives in Kavanaugh arguing against the criminal investigation of sitting Presidents after he had taken part in Judge Ken Starr's investigation of President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

 

 

At 6:13 a.m. Eastern, after left-leaning CNN political analyst John Avlon argued that Judge Kavanaugh is "not as far right a pick as the President could have made," and that it would undermine Democrats to stridently oppose him, Toobin disagreed:

I don't see that at all. I think if you look at the issues on which the Democrats want to make this fight -- should Roe v. Wade be overturned? Should the courts overturn what's left of ObamaCare? Should gay people be allowed to be excluded from restaurants and bakeries because they are gay?

After Avlon jumped in to ask if he is "that much of a right-wing ideological warrior?" the liberal Toobin added:

How did he get on the Federalist Society list -- the prescreening of the federalist society? Why did President Trump during the campaign say, 'I will appoint pro-life justices to the Supreme Court who will overturn Roe v. Wade'?

A bit later, after co-host Alisyn Camerota read from a 2009 opinion by Judge Kavanaugh in which he argued against allowing criminal investigations of Presidents while they are in office, Toobin shot back:

And who was one of the people responsible for that onerous investigation of Bill Clinton? Brett Kavanaugh. So, suddenly, when he's in a position to be elevated by a President to the Supreme Court, he discovers, 'Oh, you know, those investigations--'

In the next hour, Toobin proclaimed that "Roe v. Wade is dead" because of Kavanaugh's selection:

Roe v. Wade is dead. There is no way abortion is going to be legal in all 50 states in a few years. Donald Trump said during the campaign over and over again, 'I will appoint pro-life justices who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.' Why do you think he picked Brett Kavanaugh? Why do you think he picked Neil Gorsuch? Because they will overturn Roe v. Wade. Donald Trump, if nothing else, keeps his campaign promises. And that's what he's done.