



Donald Trump, as a candidate, vowed to appoint right-wing justices to the Supreme Court, and with a far-right Republican majority in the Senate, there’s every reason to believe they’ll succeed in moving the high court even further to the right. There’s already one vacancy – expect that to be filled in early 2017 – and if one or two of the center-left justices leave the bench for any reason over the next four years, the conservative majority would swell to six or seven members.



The effects of such a move would affect American life in a broad number of ways for a generation, but on “60 Minutes” last night, CBS’s Lesley Stahl On Election Night last week, as the consequences of the results started to set in, it wasn’t long before those involved in the reproductive-rights debate started the clock: Roe v. Wade, all of a sudden, seemed to have an expiration date.Donald Trump, as a candidate, vowed to appoint right-wing justices to the Supreme Court, and with a far-right Republican majority in the Senate, there’s every reason to believe they’ll succeed in moving the high court even further to the right. There’s already one vacancy – expect that to be filled in early 2017 – and if one or two of the center-left justices leave the bench for any reason over the next four years, the conservative majority would swell to six or seven members.The effects of such a move would affect American life in a broad number of ways for a generation, but on “60 Minutes” last night, CBS’s Lesley Stahl asked the president-elect about one of the higher-profile issues.

STAHL: During the campaign, you said that you would appoint justices who were against abortion rights. Will you appoint– are you looking to appoint a justice who wants to overturn Roe v. Wade?



TRUMP: So look, here’s what’s going to happen– I’m going to– I’m pro-life. The judges will be pro-life. They’ll be very—



STAHL: But what about overturning this law–



TRUMP: Well, there are a couple of things. They’ll be pro-life…. [H]aving to do with abortion if it ever were overturned, it would go back to the states. So it would go back to the states and–



STAHL: Yeah, but then some women won’t be able to get an abortion?



TRUMP: No, it’ll go back to the states.