Justice Kavanaugh, who said ‘Roe’ was “settled” law and defended the legal doctrine of ‘stare decisis’ (upholding precedent) at his 2018 confirmation hearing, Wednesday changed his view. And apparently did so using fallacious reasoning during oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

Kavanaugh recited a list of Supreme Court cases that had been overturned in the past, implying that ‘Roe’ should therefore be overturned as well. His list included emotionally charged cases overturning racial segregation and giving same-sex couples the right to marry.

Having taught critical thinking at the university level, I can tell you that appeals to emotion and citing false analogies would earn an F for any student doing so in my classes. By highlighting cases arousing strong passions in the populace, Kavanaugh tried to clothe his fallacious reasoning in a cloak of social justice, ignoring the reality that those cases expanded civil rights while striking ‘Roe’ would diminish women’s rights.

His second logical fallacy is implying an analogy between the overturned cases and the present case. The fact that cases have been overturned in the past has no relevance to whether ‘Roe’ should be overturned now. Because old men have been able to run marathons in the past says nothing about whether I can.

Justice Kavanaugh attended some of the best schools in the country. Critical thinking certainly must have been taught in some of them. Apparently, you can lead a dunce to knowledge, but you can’t make him think!