They lied........ they indicated that they saw the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision protecting the right to abortion as settled law

[GoodTaste]

“They lied,” the Washington Post’s Paul Waldman wrote about the testimony of the Republican-appointed justices in their confirmation hearings. In those hearings, they indicated that they saw the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision protecting the right to abortion as settled law, no matter what their own personal preferences might be. “They lied to Congress and to the country…. It was all a lie, a scam, a con,” Waldman wrote, “the assurances that they were blank slates committed to ‘originalism’ and ‘textualism,’ that they wouldn’t ‘legislate from the bench,’ that they have no agenda but merely a ‘judicial philosophy.’”

Source: Letter from An American

I have had a hard time to understand who "they" are. It seems to refer to "the Republican-appointed justices". But if so, how could the expression "they indicated that they saw the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision protecting the right to abortion as settled law, no matter what their own personal preferences might be" be a lie (the author pointed out at the beginning - "They lied".)? Seeing the Roe v. Wade decision as settled law is an honest opinion rather than a lie, after all.
So I am trying to understand it as "they pretended that they saw the decision as settled law while in their heart they believed it as not settled". Not sure whether I am on the right track.
Sorry this question may appear to be boring.

 

[5jj]

I have had a hard time to understand who "they" are. It seems to refer to "the Republican-appointed justices".

It does.

Seeing the Roe v. Wade decision as settled law is an honest opinion rather than a lie, after all.

It was a lie if they did not believe that.

So I am trying to understand it as "they pretended that they saw the decision as settled law while in their heart they believed it as not settled".

Right.

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, the accusation is that a person being examined for confirmation to a Supreme Court seat lied about their intention to revisit or revise the "settled law" of the 1973 decision.