Democrats’ Attacks on the Supreme Court Are Reckless and Dangerous
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the Supreme Court:
“All week long, I’ve been discussing the historic Supreme Court term that wrapped up late last month.
“Over the course of several months, a textualist and originalist majority issued the most consequential victories for our Constitution since the Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson with Brown v. Board in 1954.
“It was the best Supreme Court term in generations.
“The Court corrected one of the worst moral and legal mistakes of the 20th century and returned power to the American people to implement popular and commonsense protections for unborn life and bring America back inside the global mainstream.
“The Court handed down two historic wins for religious liberty, rolling back decades of infringement on the rights of Americans to worship and raise families as they choose.
“The Court strengthened the rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves outside the home in a resounding reaffirmation of the Second Amendment.
“And the Court took a huge bite out of the unconstitutional ‘administrative state’ and rolled back a big part of the Obama-Biden Administration’s totally illegal ‘Clean Power Plan.’
“With electricity prices skyrocketing on Democrats’ watch, experts warning about impending summer blackouts, and more pain at the gas pump, the last thing Americans need is a holy war on fossil fuels that Congress never authorized.
“The Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA was a victory for working Americans, and a reminder that the power to make law rests with their elected representatives, not unelected bureaucrats.
“But today I want to talk about something that runs even deeper than these historic rulings.
“As in any high-profile term, last month, the Court arrived at rulings that some politicians and some citizens like more than others.
“Goodness knows that I have been disappointed in my share of Supreme Court rulings over the years, including some extremely consequential cases.
“Going back decades, there have been countless times when the federal judiciary has left conservative citizens feeling every bit as disappointed in a particular outcome as far-left activists seem to feel now.
“After all, the courts don’t exist to enforce any one political ideology or policy agenda. The Justices’ sacred job is to follow the written text of our laws and Constitution wherever it leads them and let the chips fall where they may.
“But there’s something funny, Madam President.
“I can’t recall any time when our side of the aisle engaged in prolonged mob protests outside judges’ private family homes.
“The attacks on the judiciary, on this fundamental institution of our society, seem to only run in one direction.
“A few weeks ago, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Democratic Leader teamed up to issue a frankly unhinged statement. Most of the top Democrats in the country followed suit.
“Their reckless statements did not stop, indeed barely even took a pause, when a disturbed left-wing person very nearly tried to assassinate a sitting Justice.
“Frankly, the inflammatory tone of all these attacks echoed the furious attacks on the Court from the Democrats of the day after Brown overturned Plessy in 1954.
“We are hearing absurd calls from the far left to have Congress politically persecute individual Justices because of their view of the law. They want to take off Lady Justice’s blindfold and scare the Court into becoming politically partial.
“And this didn’t start now. Sadly, it’s been years in the making.
“Along the path to this moment, the far left has been stoked by reckless rhetoric from Democrats in elected office.
“Like the amicus brief from several Senators that declared the Court ‘unwell’ and warned it to ‘heal itself before the public demands it be ‘restructured’.’
“Or the named threats – from the Democratic Leader, himself – that sitting Justices would ‘pay the price’ for ruling in ways he didn’t like.
“Madam President, we’ve spent a year and a half now hearing Democrats say over and over again that a core principle of democracy is accepting the legitimacy of an outcome when you don’t like it.
“Our colleagues need to practice what they wish to preach.”
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Related Issues: EPA, Supreme Court, Law Enforcement, Energy, Senate Democrats
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