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Gowdy Slams ‘Partisan’ SCOTUS Coverage: ‘Try To At Least Fake Being Fair’

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Former South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy is calling out the media for their “overtly partisan” coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court.

During a segment on his Fox program “Sunday Night in America,” Gowdy accused the mainstream media of reducing serious and complex legal issues to a “provocative headline and tweet.”

Gowdy said he believes court-packing “was and remains a terrible idea,” and chastised the media for its unabashedly partisan coverage on matters relating to the high court.

“To the media, just try to at least fake being fair,” he said. “The way you frame issues and court decisions is overtly partisan. It sews the seeds of discord in our country. It treats serious and complex legal issues with a provocative headline and a tweet.”

Gowdy argued that the media portrays conservative justices as though they’ll use the bench to “restrict, deny and limit.”

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“Liberal judges, they want to expand and empower and liberate,” Gowdy said. “The words they [media] use proves their bias, and their bias explains their diminished role in our country and diminished view of the court by the public,” he went on.

“Do we want fairness or just a decision we agree with? Can we separate what the law is, from what we want it to be?” the host asked. “Do we have the discipline to win the debate or do we just want to win the Supreme Court vote?”

“We don’t need more or fewer justices,” he said. “We don’t need to set their docket or their retirement decisions, we need a court that understands its role…justices who can disagree with — and even dissent from even their own personal feelings, and we need to elevate the virtue of fairness.”

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Last month, a Gallup poll revealed the U.S. Supreme Court currently has the lowest approval rating among Americans in more than 20 years of surveys conducted by the company.

Three justices have come forward in recent weeks and publicly argued that the Court does not get political.

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett fired back at critics and she did not mince her words.

While delivering remarks at McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Barrett said she doesn’t believe the highest court in the land is politically driven and said the nation’s highest court is not filled with “partisan hacks.”

Barrett spoke specifically about the Supreme Court’s decision not to stay a Texas “heartbeat” bill that effectively outlaws abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected.

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Earlier this month, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer made headlines when he discussed a myriad of hot topics surrounding the Court and what the future might hold.

During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Breyer said he is opposed to the Democrats’ idea of packing the Supreme Court.

However, Breyer did say he is open to the idea of term limits instead of the current lifetime appointments.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas came out with a much more forceful statement against the perception of the Supreme Court as a partisan institution.

Thomas warned against “destroying our institutions because they don’t give us what we want, when we want it,” as he took aim at the media.

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Thomas said that not every decision he makes is one that aligns with his personal beliefs.

“You do your job and you go cry alone,” he said. “The court was thought to be the least dangerous branch and we may have become the most dangerous.”

And he said he believes that it has bled into the process of nominating and confirming justices.

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