OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave a bizarre and borderline incoherent response when asked about the Supreme Court reportedly voting in favor of striking down the controversial Roe v. Wade decision.
A draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico last week it set off a firestorm on social media. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts called the leak of a draft opinion “absolutely appalling” and announced an investigation to find the leaker.
During an interview on CBS, host Margaret Brennan asked Pelosi why former President Barack Obama did not codify Roe v. Wade while he was in office.
Brennan went on to ask Pelosi if she thought it was a “mistake” for Obama not to push harder on codifying Roe v. Wade when Democrats had the majority rule. Brennan hadn’t even finished asking her question before Pelosi started mumbling over her.
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
Pelosi: “I had to fight against some of the people who did not want to pass the Affordable Care Act because they were concerned that it might enable more freedom of choice. It really didn’t go down that path. Right now, we do have a pro-choice Democratic Congress, and we passed the law months ago, in last, I think, September.”
BRENNAN: “You did in the House, yes.”
Pelosi: “It’s been a while. It’s a number of votes. The — but the fact also is — “
BRENNAN: “But the votes aren’t there in the Senate.”
Pelosi: “Well, the Senate is — you’ll have to talk to the Senate about the Senate. But I do think that it puts an urgency on what’s happening in the election. Two more — one or two more senators could sweep back the filibuster rule for this purpose, and then women would have a right to choose. This is about something so serious and so personal and so disrespectful of women. Here we are on Mother’s Day, a week where the court has slapped women in the face in terms of the disrespect for their judgments about the size and timing of their families. So, the fact is, let’s keep our eye on the ball. The ball is in the court of those justices, one of whom at least said over and over again that precedent — that precedence has been established again and again on Roe v. Wade and that was — so, this decision is about being anti-precedent and anti-privacy, and it has serious ramifications as we go — as we go down this path. And it has to be softened. I don’t think there’s a good outcome, but there’s a better outcome as far as this is concerned.”
BRENNAN: “In terms of the — “
Pelosi: “And, again, let’s just be prayerful about this. This is — this is about respect for privacy. What’s next? What’s next? Marriage equality? What’s next, contraception? What is next?”
WATCH:
Last week, a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico and it set off a firestorm on social media.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts called the leak of a draft opinion “absolutely appalling” and announced an investigation to find the leaker.
“The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right,” Politico reported.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court.”
Alito adds: “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
“We, therefore, hold the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito writes in the document, labeled the “Opinion of the Court.”
