In searing remarks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday criticized the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade and steered that Trump-appointed justices lied once they advised lawmakers throughout their affirmation hearings that they revered the precedent of the 1973 ruling.
“How about those justices coming before the senators and saying that they respected stare decisis, the precedent of the court, that they respected the privacy in the Constitution of the United States,” Pelosi stated at a news convention Friday. “Did you hear that? Were they not telling the truth, then?”
Democrats have more and more questioned the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, fueled by the push by Republicans to dam a nominee by President Barack Obama and then to call a justice within the closing months of President Donald Trump’s time period. Pelosi echoed that criticism, calling it a “Trumpian” court docket that’s pushing the pursuits of Republicans.
Pelosi appeared to discuss with Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh who, throughout their affirmation hearings earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated they believed the landmark ruling that assured abortion entry throughout the nation was “precedent.” Gorsuch and Kavanaugh joined their fellow conservative justices in upholding a Mississippi legislation that banned most abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant and overturning Roe.
Gorsuch advised senators in March 2017 that Roe was “a precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court” that has been reaffirmed. Kavanaugh advised senators in September 2018 that Roe was “settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court, entitled the respect under principles of stare decisis,” a authorized doctrine meaning “to stand by things decided” in Latin.
Pelosi criticized the court docket and Republicans in stark, emotional phrases, pinning the blame on former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for laying the groundwork for the top of Roe.
Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Said
“Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved their dark, extreme goal of ripping away women’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions,” Pelosi said. “Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party and their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers.”
“With Roe and their attempt to destroy it, radical Republicans are charging ahead with their crusade to criminalize health freedom,” Pelosi added, ripping into what she called a “Trumpian Supreme Court” and appearing to urge supporters of reproductive freedom to vote in the November midterm elections.
“In the Congress — be aware of this — Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban,” she said. “They cannot be allowed to have a majority in the Congress, but that’s their goal.”
In especially impassioned remarks, Pelosi said the ruling was an “insult” to women across the country, appearing to fight back tears.
“It’s a slap in the face to women about using their own judgment, to make their own decisions about their reproductive freedom,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi also contrasted the court’s decision on abortion rights with a major ruling Thursday holding that the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home, handing a crucial victory to gun rights groups.
“Such a contradiction,” she said. “Yesterday, they are saying the states can not make legal guidelines governing the constitutional proper to bear arms. And in the present day, they’re saying the precise reverse — that the states can overturn a constitutional proper — for 50 years a constitutional proper — for a lady having the best to decide on. The hypocrisy is raging, however the hurt is infinite.”