[Free Beacon] Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) told attendees at a Federalist Society conference this week that he expects the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, given that a majority of its members profess to be textualists and originalists.The senator this week delivered remarks at the University Club of Washington, D.C. The speech covered a range of legal topics, including a case the justices will hear in December that asks whether Roe should be overturned. The event was closed to the press, but a source in the room conveyed portions of Cotton's remarks to the Washington Free Beacon.
Cotton's comments come amid a budding influence campaign around the December case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Center. Judicial liberals have divided over strategies for protecting abortion rights before the conservative Court. Some pro-abortion activists, such as the 50-odd demonstrators who picketed Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home on Sept. 15, favor direct political action against the justices themselves. Others recommend a conciliatory approach.
"The only thing standing in the way of justices doing the right thing is the intense social pressure of liberal elites," Cotton told conference attendees.
"Now is the time for true friends of the Constitution to speak up," he added.