‘Alarmed’ Joe Manchin Accepts He’s Been Played by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch

After the Supreme Court released its bombshell decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) seemed to realize he’d been played by Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, two justices he voted to confirm. “I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans,” Manchin wrote in a statement. The Catholic senator said he’s still anti-abortion but supports legislation to safeguard the rights previously protected by Roe. He said he’s hopeful that Democrats and Republicans can draft such legislation, though there hasn’t been much consensus to do so in the past. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) also admitted Friday that she’d been duped. “This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me,” she said.