Trump Says He Could Have Reversed 5-3 Abortion Ruling Just By Replacing Scalia
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defied the laws of mathematics on Thursday, claiming that he could have turned around the Supreme Court's 5-3 abortion ruling by nominating a pro-life justice to replace Antonin Scalia.
Radio host Mike Gallagher noted during an interview with the candidate that the Supreme Court "handed the pro-life movement a disappointing decision" by striking down a Texas law that made it more difficult for women to get abortions.
Trump suggested that the 5-3 decision would have been flipped to a 5-4 decision upholding the law if he had been able to fill the vacancy left by the death of Scalia with a pro-life judge.
"Now if we had Scalia was living or is Scalia was replaced by me," Trump said, "you wouldn't have had that. Okay? It would have been the opposite."
"So just to confirm," Gallagher pressed. "Under a Donald -- a President Donald Trump-appointed Supreme Court, you wouldn't see a majority ruling like the one we had with the Texas abortion law this week."
"No, you wouldn't see that," Trump insisted. "And people understand that."
Ignoring the fact that it would have been impossible to confirm a new justice prior to the ruling, replacing Scalia with another pro-life justice would likely have had no impact on the ruling. The Texas law would still have been overturned 5-4 instead of 5-3.