Liberal Supreme Court justices tear into their colleagues' for their 'flagrantly unconstitutional' decision not to challenge Texas abortion ban while Biden calls it an 'insult to the rule of law'
Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer unleashed on their conservative colleagues for what they call a 'flagrantly unconstitutional' decision not to challenge Texas's restrictive new abortion law.
In her dissenting opinion on Wednesday Sotomayor accused the court's conservative majority of 'burying their heads in the sand.
'The Act is clearly unconstitutional under existing precedents,' the Obama appointee wrote. 'The respondents do not even try to argue otherwise. Nor could they: No federal appellate court has upheld such a comprehensive prohibition on abortions before viability under current law.'
'Taken together, the Act is a breathtaking act of defiance—of the Constitution, of this Court's precedents, and of the rights of women seeking abortions throughout Texas.'
Justice Kagan, also appointed by ex-President Obama, claims Texas's law has a 'clear' and 'undisputed' conflict against Roe v. Wade.
She accused the Supreme Court majority of only hastily reviewing the case and then only 'barely bothers to explain its conclusion.'
Kagan blasted the court's 'shadow-docket decisionmaking' which she claims is responsible for increasingly 'un-reasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend' rulings.
Biden released a forceful statement attacking the Supreme Court on Thursday morning
Justice Breyer wrote, 'The very bringing into effect of Texas’s law may well threaten the applicants with imminent and serious harm.'
President Joe Biden released a forceful statement Thursday directing the executive branch to undermine the Supreme Court after it refused to take up the case.
'The highest Court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities,' Biden wrote.
He ordered the White House Counsel's office to mount a response to the court's decision, guided by the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice.
The law, known as the 'Texas Heartbeat Act', bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is normally after six weeks and before many women even know they are pregnant.
It makes no exceptions for rape or incest and allows Texans to report people, including Uber drivers, who help or take women to get abortions. The only exemption is if there is a danger to the woman's health.
Biden vowed to directly challenge the Supreme Court, by ordering the agencies to apparently circumvent the ruling and 'ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions as protected by Roe.'
Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan dissented. The other justices - all appointed by Republican presidents - allowed the law to stand. From left: Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Elena Kagan, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Stephen Breyer, Amy Coney Barrett, and Sonia Sotomayor
He asked the White House to look at 'what legal tools we have to insulate women and providers from the impact of Texas' bizarre scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties.'
Biden, the second Catholic president in US history, has been criticized by church officials in the past because his pro-choice stance goes directly against Catholic doctrine.
And Biden's directive to circumvent the court has already spurred outrage among Republicans in Congress.
'President Biden is the most anti-life President in modern history. He continues to betray America’s founding principles by refusing to protect the right to life. Now he has ordered the federal government to attack a state that seeks to protect that most precious right,' Rep. Andy Biggs told DailyMail.com in a statement.
'This abhorrent act by the Biden administration is inhumane and an abuse of power. I will continue to fight alongside the pro-life community to defend the rights of the most vulnerable in our society.'
Rep. Jim Banks told DailyMail.com that Biden is the 'most radically pro-abortion president in American history.'
GOP House lawmakers Andy Biggs (left and Jim Banks (right) criticized Biden for his threat to circumvent the Supreme Court and Texas state law
'His administration has pushed abortion on pro-life states and organizations and exported abortions abroad, violating conscience rights and costing countless unborn lives. On the bright side, this won’t be the last abortion case the Supreme Court hears this year,' Banks said.
Vice President Kamala Harris joined Biden in bashing the court's decision and called it a 'bounty law.'
'This decision is not the last word on Roe v. Wade, and we will not stand by and allow our nation to go back to the days of back-alley abortions. We will not abide by cash incentives for virtual vigilantes and intimidation for patients,' Harris wrote in a Thursday statement.
'We will use every lever of our Administration to defend the right to safe and legal abortion—and to strengthen that right.'
Attorney General Merrick Garland reaffirmed the DOJ would take the matter up, stating: 'The Justice Department is deeply concerned about Texas SB8. We are evaluating all options to protect the constitutional rights of women, including access to an abortion.'
And members of Congress are also up in arms over the decision.
Progressive 'squad' members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush are leading calls to pack the Supreme Court after it declined to block the Texas abortion law in a 5-4 decision.
Ocasio-Cortez and Bush are leading renewed calls to expand the Supreme Court to tip its current conservative majority in the wake of the 5-4 ruling
Abortion rights supporters gather to protest Texas SB 8 in front of Edinburg City Hall on Wednesday
Ocasio-Cortez lashed out against the Supreme Court early Thursday morning over its refusal to block the law called on Democrats to 'abolish the filibuster and expand the court.'
In a Twitter post published just after midnight, the progressive lawmaker accused Republicans of overturning landmark case Roe v. Wade.
'Republicans promised to overturn Roe v Wade, and they have,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote. 'Democrats can either abolish the filibuster and expand the court, or do nothing as millions of peoples' bodies, rights, and lives are sacrificed for far-right minority rule.'
She added that it 'shouldn't be a difficult decision' for her colleagues.
Hillary Clinton invoked Roe v. Wade on Thursday and accused the Supreme Court of 'gutting' the 1973 case.
'Last night, the Supreme Court officially overturned five decades of settled law and permitted Texas' unconstitutional abortion ban to stand,' she wrote.
'Yes: They gutted Roe v. Wade without hearing arguments, in a one-paragraph, unsigned 5-4 opinion issued in the middle of the night.'
Cori Bush said the ruling embodied 'far-right extremism' on Wednesday.
'In the span of one week the Supreme Court forced 11 million households to face eviction and effectively overturned Roe v. Wade in the middle of the night.
'This is what far-right extremism looks like. We need to expand the court.'
The two squad members expressed outrage at the Supreme Court's ruling on Twitter
No comments