Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell
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:
“Two years ago, the Senate Democratic Leader rallied a crowd on the steps of the Supreme Court and threatened Justices by name if they did not resolve an abortion case the way he wanted.
“‘I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.’
“This incitement triggered rare public rebukes from the Chief Justice and even the liberal American Bar Association.
“But apparently the radical left heard their marching orders loud and clear.
“Since the precedent-smashing leak of a draft opinion last week, the left has set out to harass and intimidate sitting Justices as they consider a pending case.
“We have seen angry crowds assemble at judges’ private family homes. Activists published a map of their addresses.
“Law enforcement has had to install a security fence around the Court.
“Trying to scare federal judges into ruling a certain way is far outside the bounds of normal First Amendment speech or protest. It is an attempt to replace the rule of law with the rule of mobs.
“It appears this may possibly be flat-out illegal. There is a federal law on the books that criminalizes ‘pickets or parades’ with ‘the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer’ at locations that include a judge’s ‘residence.’
“Last year, Attorney General Garland’s Justice Department was quick to treat the concerned parents of America like potential domestic terrorists. But curiously, I haven’t heard any announcement about how the DOJ may handle these intimidation tactics aimed at federal judges.
“Washington Democrats have gone out of their way to fuel the hysterical, potentially dangerous climate.
“The President’s statement about the unprecedented leak did not condemn it. His Press Secretary has repeatedly appeared to endorse rallies at judges’ private family residences so long as they don’t turn outright violent.
“The senior Senator for Massachusetts stood on the Supreme Court steps and shouted, ‘we are gonna fight back.’
“Democrats are renewing their calls to break the Senate in order to pack the Court. They want to destroy two institutions for the price of one.
“One liberal Georgetown Law professor helpfully summarized their mission here.
“He explained this past weekend that the key moral difference between this pressure campaign and the January 6th riot is that, in this case, ‘the mob is right.’
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“So what has generated this reckless outrage?
“What is the Armageddon over which Democrats want to break the Senate, pack the Court, and condone potentially illegal rallies outside judges’ family homes?
“Here’s the case in question: Whether the state of Mississippi can enact an abortion law that would still be more liberal than the laws in Germany, France, and Switzerland.
“That is the case that is driving these hysterics. The possibility that abortion laws might begin to move away from China and North Korea and closer to Germany, France, and Switzerland.
“That’s what’s prompted the calls to destroy our institutions and surround judges’ family homes.
“That’s why a pro-life nonprofit in Wisconsin got a Molotov cocktail through its window and activists called for disruptions of Sunday worship.
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“Today’s Democratic Party is profoundly out of step with the American people on this issue.
“Their extreme position ignores modern science and public opinion.
“Leader Schumer wants the Senate to vote again on a Democrat bill that would effectively legalize abortion on demand through all nine months.
“Their bill is written to protect abortionists rather than mothers.
“It would roll back health regulations.
“It would attack Americans’ conscience rights and religious freedoms. It would overturn modest and overwhelmingly popular safeguards like waiting periods, informed consent laws, and possibly even parental notification.
“And it is written so that in practice, it would allow elective abortion until birth.
“Democrats’ extreme position is radical on a global scale and it is wildly unpopular with the American people.
“Only 34% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases into the second trimester. That drops to 19% in the third trimester. But that is what Democrats’ bill would allow in practice.
“Every Senate Democrat but two, and every House Democrat except a handful, have put their name on this as co-sponsors.
“That means 97% of Washington Democrats support a position that only 19% of Americans want.
“Let me repeat that. Ninety-seven percent of Democrats in Congress are co-sponsors of an outcome that has nineteen percent public support.
“And notwithstanding inflation, energy insecurity, open borders, a violent crime wave, and a war in Europe, Democrats want to spend this week explaining their extremism.
“Some Democrats even want to try again to break the Senate in order to ram this through.
“I’ve clearly stated I will never support smashing the legislative filibuster on this issue or any other. Yet Democrats want to wreck our institutions over their fringe position that Americans do not share.
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“I can understand why my colleagues want to distract from their governing record. Their policies have created a living nightmare for working families.
“But Democrats’ extreme and unpopular position on abortion will not bail them out.
“It just gives Americans yet another reminder that the radicals are running the show.”