Washington ? The U.S. Supreme Court should be open to revisiting or overturning cases that many consider wrongly decided, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback told high court nominee Samuel Alito on Wednesday.

Brownback, a Republican who opposes abortion rights, said the court should not always defer to cases such as the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal just because they are considered “super-duper precedents” that have been on the books for years.

“Clearly, some precedents are undeserving of respect because they’re repugnant to the Constitution,” Brownback said during his turn to question Alito on the appellate judge’s third day of confirmation hearings.

Alito agreed with Brownback that some opinions deserved to be overturned, such as Plessy v. Ferguson, which sanctioned the separate but equal doctrine in 1896 and was reversed by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

But Alito said he would consider those cases under the “important doctrine” of stare decisis, a legal term under which courts respect the principles in prior decisions. Alito has not called the Roe decision “settled law” as Chief Justice John Roberts did during his hearings.

Brownback also asked Alito to clarify his views on the separation of church and state. Alito has often ruled in favor of religious expression in public areas as a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Brownback decided not to use any of his allotted time during the second round of questions, instead pledging his support for Alito’s nomination.