Judge Brett Kavanaugh — a Catholic — faces a historical struggle between canon and constitutional law
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In late 1972, while drafting the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, Justice Harry Blackmun asked fellow justice William J. Brennan Jr. to review a section in the opinion concerning the Roman Catholic Church.
“Your judgment as to this will be most helpful,” Blackmun wrote, according to a biography of Brennan.
[Trump weighs top picks for Supreme Court amid last-minute maneuvering]
Blackmun turned to Brennan for precise clarification of the church’s position on abortion vehemently opposed to it — because he expected his colleague would know it by heart. Brennan was the court’s lone Catholic. And he was on Blackmun’s side of history — to legalize abortion, the church’s position be damned.
The story of Brennan’s seminal role in legalizing abortion had been largely overlooked as President Trump considered two Catholic judges …
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