Several Republican senators on the influential Judiciary Committee asked Sen. Chuck Schumer to substantially tone down his language in response to the leaked decision in Dobbs v. California.
They accused the majority leader of “slandering” Supreme Court judges and condoning “authoritarian” behavior by Democrats.
The Supreme Court’s Independence
Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz urged Schumer to respect the court and its autonomy by desisting from psychological warfare efforts directed at coercing the majority into a varying ruling.
A trio of Republican senators from the powerful Judiciary Committee is calling on Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to dramatically walk back his rhetoric on the leaked Dobbs opinion, accusing the majority leader of “slander” Supreme Court justices and enabling “authoritar…
— theconservativeworld.com (@TheConsworld) May 7, 2022
The senator’s communications director did not respond to questions on Friday about whether Schumer criticizes the methods of groups like “Ruth Sent Us.”
These methods include exposing the claimed private addresses of justices and marching outside their houses.
When asked if releasing Justice Alito’s draft statement would expose the judicial process to unwarranted outside influences, Schumer’s office declined to comment.
Blackburn, Lee, and Cruz criticized Schumer’s quick response to the Politico article that featured Alito’s February draft of the majority decision in Dobbs.
They stated, “Immediately after this draft was revealed, you insulted the Supreme Court judges on the Senate floor and on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.”
“Specifically, during your speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate on May 3, 2022, you claimed, ‘Several of these conservative judges have lied to the U.S. Senate, torn up the Constitution, and soiled both precedent and the reputation of the Supreme Court.'”
As Blackburn, Lee, and Cruz said, Republican-appointed Supreme Court judges who recognized Roe as an “essential precedent” during their confirmation process did not lie, as Schumer claimed, but instead displayed “neutrality.”
Subjectivity
Referring to Brown v. Board and Loving v. Virginia, the senators stated, “There is little doubt you favor the court reversing precedent when the Constitution and principles of stare decisis thus compel it.”
“However, you do not want the court to reverse decisions that you happen to like.”
Several conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the people, have lied to the Senate, ripped up the Constitution, and defiled precedent and the Court’s reputation—all at the expense of women who could soon be stripped of bodily autonomy and constitutional rights. pic.twitter.com/0PaVWBD2oz
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 3, 2022
In addition, they noted Schumer’s March 2020 warning that Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh would “pay the price” if they chose a different case against the leader’s preferences.
The letter said, “This incendiary speech is destructive to our democratic form of government.”
After praising the ruling for restoring abortion choices to the states, the letter criticized Schumer for failing to “renounce” Democratic aspirations for court stacking and the filibuster abolition.
“Make no mistake: these are techniques employed by autocratic dictators.”
The letter said when dictators can’t get what they want through the democratic process, they change the rules and break the rules.
In conclusion, the senators demanded Schumer “make it very plain to the American public that all threats and intimidation techniques directed at our Supreme Court judges are repugnant.”
“We also encourage you to keep the Supreme Court’s independence in mind, regardless of its decision in Dobbs, and stop using political pressure to change the court’s decisions,” they said.
