Joe Biden warned of new attacks on civil rights as the Supreme Court prepares to strike down abortion rights, telling reporters at the White House that LGBTQ+ children could be the next targets of a Trump-dominated Republican party he called “this crowd of Maga”. ” and “the most extreme political organization…in recent American history.”
“What happens,” the president asked, if “a state changes the law that says LGBTQ kids can’t be in classrooms with other kids? Is that legitimate under the way the decision is written?
Biden’s comments, at the end of a brief session on deficit reduction, referred to a leaked draft of a ruling by Judge Samuel Alito. Alito, one of six conservatives on the supreme court, was writing about a Mississippi case that aims to overturn both Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed abortion rights, and 1992 Casey v Planned Parenthood, which did. reinforced.
The Mississippi case is expected to be resolved in June. The leak of the draft sentence to Politicianwhich reported that four other Conservatives on the nine-judge bench supported him, sparked a firestorm of controversy and anger.
In a statement and comments Tuesday, Biden condemned Alito’s reasoning and intentions and called for legislation to codify Roe into law.
But the president has faced criticism within his own party for appearing reluctant to contemplate the reform such legislation would require, namely abolishing Senate filibuster, the rule that requires 60 votes to pass most bills.
A lifelong Catholic who nonetheless supports a woman’s right to choose, Biden has been overshadowed as a strong voice against the attack on abortion rights by high-profile Democratic women, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. , who spoke angrily outside court Tuesday, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris’s struggles as vice president have been widely reported, but Tuesday night, speaking with the advocacy group Emily’s List in Washington, she seemed to hit her stride.
Former California State Attorney and Senator saying: “Those Republican leaders who are trying to weaponize the use of the law against women. Well, we say, ‘How dare they?’
“How dare you tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body? How dare they? How dare they try to stop him from determining her own future? How dare they deny women their rights and freedoms?’”
She asked: “Which party wants to extend our rights? And which party wants to restrict them? It has never been clearer. Which party wants to take us forward? And which party wants to push us back? You know, some Republican leaders want to take us back to a time before Roe v Wade.”
At the White House on Wednesday, Biden answered brief questions. She was asked about the sanctions on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and about “the next step on abortion once this case is resolved.”
“Like I said when this happened, as I was getting on the plane to go to Alabama, this is so much more than an abortion,” she said. “I hadn’t read the full opinion at the time.”
Then the 79-year-old president gave a long and somewhat incoherent response about “the debate with Robert Bork.” Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan in 1987. Biden was then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The nomination failed.
At the White House, Biden said Bork “believed the only reason he had inherent rights was because the government gave them to him,” a position Biden said he disagreed with.
Biden also said that Bork had opposed Griswold vs. Connecticutthe 1965 case that established the right to contraception, a right that many on the left fear will be left open to attack from the right once Roe, another privacy-related case, is overturned.
In his speech the night before, Harris said: “In essence, Roe recognizes the fundamental right to privacy. Think about that for a minute. When the right to privacy is attacked, anyone in our country can face a future in which the government can interfere with their personal decisions. Not just women. Any.”
The vice president also said: “Let’s fight for our country and for the principles on which it was founded, and let’s fight with everything we have.”
Reference-www.theguardian.com