The Supreme Court Corrected an Egregious Moral and Legal Mistake
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:
“Since the Senate was last in session, our nation’s highest Court finished its term.
“It was an absolutely historic series of victories for the American people and for the Constitution. The single best Supreme Court term in nearly 70 years, since Brown v. Board overturned Plessy in 1954.
“For the first time in modern history, there is a textualist and originalist majority on the Court. Justices who understand that the job of a judge is to follow the law as it is written. Who understand they are there to faithfully apply what our statues and Constitution actually say and leave everything else to the people and their elected representatives.
“This is the kind of judiciary that the rule of law requires; that our system of government demands; that a diverse society needs.
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“Last month, the Court corrected one of the most egregious legal and moral mistakes of the 20th century.
“Only seven countries in the entire world allow elective abortion-on-demand past 20 weeks, but until two weeks ago, past Supreme Courts had mistakenly decreed that the Constitution forced America to be one of them.
“All 50 states had to handle this issue like China and North Korea. No state was allowed to handle it even like France or Germany.
“Of course, there is no command like that in our Constitution. And that is what the Court finally recognized. There is nothing in the Constitution that forces us to be a radical global outlier on abortion. The American people finally have their freedom back to enact commonsense protections for unborn life.
“Millions of Americans spent half a century working, marching, and praying for this landmark day. It has been my honor to stand with them throughout the journey that led to June 24th, 2022, and to continue to stand together.
“The Court’s ruling in Dobbs is not only a huge victory for innocent life. It is an historic triumph for the rule of law itself.
“Even liberal legal experts, including the late Justice Ginsburg, said the Court’s abortion precedents were badly reasoned. The liberal Yale law professor Akhil Amar wrote in May, ‘I am a Democrat who supports abortion rights but opposes Roe… In the eyes of many constitutional experts across the ideological spectrum, it [lacked] solid grounding in the Constitution.’
“Now, Washington Democrats have taken pains to ignore that fact.
“Remember, their party has become jaw-droppingly extreme on this issue. More than 60 percent of Americans support restrictions after 15 weeks. Only 19% of Americans want abortion on demand until the moment of birth.
“But 97% of Washington Democrats support precisely that. Ninety-seven percent of Washington Democrats are with less than one fifth of the country on this issue.
“So Democrats are desperate to change the subject. Many are not even trying to argue with the decision, but have pivoted to claims about all kinds of unrelated issues.
“But this is nonsense. Here again is Professor Amar, the arch-liberal from Yale Law, writing back in May. ‘Does Justice Alito’s draft, as many are now claiming, inflict collateral damage on other areas of constitutional case law, such as the Warren Court’s precedents on contraception and interracial marriage? It does not. In fact, the Dobbs draft reinforces these iconic opinions by explaining why they were right.’
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“From top to bottom, this ruling was a gigantic step forward for human dignity and for the rule of law. The Justices tuned out the mobs and attempted violence, tuned out the threats from politicians, and simply followed the law where it clearly led.
“And this historic achievement was just one part of the most consequential Supreme Court term in seven decades. I’ll have more to say on this subject this week.”
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