'I am angry': Warren blasts 'extremist' Supreme Court after Roe opinion leaks
or wife or a couple,
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., appeared shaken up as she talked to members of the press on Tuesday about the Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“I am angry,” she said as she marched to a protest. “Angry and upset and determined.”
“I am angry,” she repeated once she made it to a rally outside the Supreme Court. “I am here because I am angry, and I am here because the United States Congress can change all of this! Angry, but committed.”
On Monday night, the political news outlet Politico sent shock waves across Washington and the nation when it published a leaked draft of the Supreme Court overturning the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
The draft, from February, could still change before the expected ruling in June. But the conservative majority on the court appears ready to dismantle Roe, a long-held policy aim in Republican circles. Such a decision would send abortion laws to the states, and many GOP-led states have already passed laws to outlaw abortion the moment the high court acts.
“They have been out there plotting, carefully cultivating these Supreme Court justices so they could have a majority on the bench who would accomplish something that the majority of Americans do not want,” Warren said, blasting the “extremist” majority on the court.
Warren said her anger was driven by concern for the poor women in Republican-controlled states who lack the resources to travel to Democratic states that maintain legal abortion rights.
“I am angry because of who will pay the price for this. It will not be wealthy women. Wealthy women can get on an airplane, they can fly to another state, they can fly to another country, they can get the protection they need,” she told the rally before the court building. “This will fall on the poorest women in our country. This will fall on the young women who have been abused, who are victims of incest. This will fall on those who have been raped. This will fall on mothers who are already struggling to work three jobs, to be able to support their children they have.”
Warren, who ran for president in 2020, argued that Congress should pass a federal law protecting abortion rights. That effort faces an uphill battle, as Republicans would be sure to filibuster the measure in the Senate, and moderate Democrats in the chamber are unlikely to buck the filibuster.
“The United States Congress can keep Roe v. Wade the law of the land — they just need to do it,” Warren said, also endorsing expanding the number of Supreme Court justices.
Several other liberal lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, also called for the filibuster to end and for Roe v. Wade to be codified.
“Congress must pass legislation that codifies Roe v. Wade as the law of the land in this country NOW,” Sanders tweeted. “And if there aren’t 60 votes in the Senate to do it, and there are not, we must end the filibuster to pass it with 50 votes.”
President Biden on Tuesday told reporters he would work to codify the decision into law, saying it “makes a lot of sense.” He also looked ahead to this year’s midterm elections.
“If the court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Biden said in a statement. “And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November. At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.”
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