Democrats are facing increasing pressure to do something about protecting abortion rights before their predicted loss of control in one, or both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
But options are limited, and Joe Biden’s administration sees no easy path forward as the supreme court prepares to finalize its reversal, in the coming weeks, of the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that guaranteed women’s constitutional rights to the procedure.
Legislation to protect abortion rights, which has already passed the House, looks certain to stall again in the senate, despite Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer’s promise to bring it up for another vote.
The women’s health protection act failed in the chamber in March, sunk by Republicans and the West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, and stands no chance of securing the support of the 60 senators it would need.
Progressive voices such as the Democratic Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, are calling for the “packing” of the supreme court with liberal judges to nullify the conservative majority, another likely non-starter given the reluctance of Manchin and other moderates to play along.
The Biden administration’s frustration became apparent during Wednesday’s media briefing by White House press secretary Jen Psaki:
I can’t speak for what actions could be possible.
What I can tell you will happen, and this is what we are preparing for, if Roe were to fall, abortion would probably be illegal and about half the states in the country, up to 26 states, particularly in the south and midwest and west.
What we’re really focused on is the impact. Tens of millions of women may lack access to reproductive health care services as soon as the summer.
Women, the majority of whom are below poverty level, and are Black, Hispanic, or API [Asian Pacific islanders], are going to be forced to figure out how to travel, how to take time off work, how to get childcare. It is a prohibitive cost, it will not be safe.
That is what we’re focused on, working to address, as we’re making policy decisions.
But anger is growing. As my colleagues Lauren Gambino and Lauren Burke report, furious protestors at the supreme court and in cities around the country, are demanding action. “Do something, Democrats!” is the rallying call.
Read more:
Joan E Greve
We’ve plenty more coverage of the aftermath of the leaked supreme court draft ruling overturning abortion rights. My colleague Joan E Greve analyzes the justices’ previous comments on Roe v Wade, and whether this week’s developments constitute “a betrayal”:
Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the leak of a draft supreme court opinion overturning Roe v Wade as a “betrayal”. But for the majority of Americans who support the right to abortion access, the true betrayal was committed by the five justices who have initially voted to overturn the landmark case.
That is especially true of the three conservative supreme court justices who were nominated by Donald Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. During their Senate confirmation hearings, each of those three justices was asked about Roe and Planned Parenthood v Casey, the 1992 case that upheld the right to abortion access and could now be overturned as well.
The comments that the three justices made during those hearings are now coming under renewed scrutiny, as they face accusations of having misled politicians and the public about their willingness to overturn Roe.
During his 2017 confirmation hearings, Gorsuch said: “Casey is settled law in the sense that it is a decision of the US supreme court.” When Kavanaugh appeared before the Senate judiciary committee in 2018, he similarly described Roe as “important precedent of the supreme court that has been reaffirmed many times”, and he defined Casey as “precedent on precedent” because it upheld Roe.
But legal excerpts say Gorsuch and Kavanaugh’s comments about Roe and Casey did not clearly indicate how they might vote in a case like Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, raising the prospect that some people may have read into their statements only what they wished to hear.
“When people are nominated to the supreme court and they testify in Senate confirmation hearings, they are very careful about their language,” said Professor Katherine Franke of Columbia Law School. “Something like ‘settled law’ actually has no concrete legal meaning. What it means is that that’s a decision from the supreme court, and I acknowledge that it exists. But it doesn’t carry any kind of significance beyond that.”
Read the full story:
Democrats are facing increasing pressure to do something about protecting abortion rights before their predicted loss of control in one, or both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
But options are limited, and Joe Biden’s administration sees no easy path forward as the supreme court prepares to finalize its reversal, in the coming weeks, of the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that guaranteed women’s constitutional rights to the procedure.
Legislation to protect abortion rights, which has already passed the House, looks certain to stall again in the senate, despite Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer’s promise to bring it up for another vote.
The women’s health protection act failed in the chamber in March, sunk by Republicans and the West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, and stands no chance of securing the support of the 60 senators it would need.
Progressive voices such as the Democratic Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, are calling for the “packing” of the supreme court with liberal judges to nullify the conservative majority, another likely non-starter given the reluctance of Manchin and other moderates to play along.
The Biden administration’s frustration became apparent during Wednesday’s media briefing by White House press secretary Jen Psaki:
I can’t speak for what actions could be possible.
What I can tell you will happen, and this is what we are preparing for, if Roe were to fall, abortion would probably be illegal and about half the states in the country, up to 26 states, particularly in the south and midwest and west.
What we’re really focused on is the impact. Tens of millions of women may lack access to reproductive health care services as soon as the summer.
Women, the majority of whom are below poverty level, and are Black, Hispanic, or API [Asian Pacific islanders], are going to be forced to figure out how to travel, how to take time off work, how to get childcare. It is a prohibitive cost, it will not be safe.
That is what we’re focused on, working to address, as we’re making policy decisions.
But anger is growing. As my colleagues Lauren Gambino and Lauren Burke report, furious protestors at the supreme court and in cities around the country, are demanding action. “Do something, Democrats!” is the rallying call.
Read more:
Good morning, and welcome to the blog. We’re edging towards the end of an already drama-filled week in US politics that, incredibly, still has two full days to run.
Washington DC, and the nation, is still reeling from Monday’s bombshell news that the supreme court stands ready to strike down almost half a century of abortion rights.
Democrats are under increasing pressure to do something about it before their predicted loss of control in one, or both chambers of Congress in November’s midterms.
But legislation to protect abortion rights, or “packing” the supreme court with liberal judges to nullify the conservative majority, would face significant obstacles.
Republicans, meanwhile, must find a way to sell to voters the overwhelmingly unpopular supreme court move.
Russia’s assault in Ukraine continues, and you can follow developments in our 24-hour live blog here.
In the US today:
- Immigration comes under scrutiny on Capitol Hill with officials from the state, homeland, and health and human services departments testifying this morning to lawmakers about security at the southern border.
- The White House press secretary Jen Psaki will brief at 2pm. Expect more questions on abortion rights, immigration, the economy and Covid-19.
- We’re waiting to see if other high-profile attendees at last weekend’s White House correspondents’ dinner come down with Covid-19. Secretary of state Antony Blinken declared he tested positive yesterday.
- Joe Biden will greet Mexico’s first lady Beatriz Gutiérrez Mueller de López Obrador at a White House reception this afternoon to commemorate Cinco de Mayo.
