Biden scolds the Supreme Court to their faces for overturning Roe v. Wade: President, 81, tells justices ‘with all due respect women are not without power’ in pointed message at his State of the Union
- Biden got a shot at the Supreme Court because he overturned Roe v. Wade
- A group of justices were in the audience for his State of the Union address
- He warned that women have “political power.”
President Joe Biden took on the powerful Supreme Court during his State of the Union address, calling for it to be overturned Roe v. Wade in an election year where the court’s decisions already play an outsized role.
It was one of several sharp political statements during the speech, this time directed at the handful of judges who had gathered in the House chamber for the speech.
“With all due respect, judges, women are not without electoral or political power,” Biden said after announcing the decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization with a 6-3 Conservative majority in 2022.
“Many of you in this chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom,” Biden said in remarks addressed to Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
‘My God! What freedom would you otherwise deprive yourself of?’
President Joe Biden has blasted Supreme Court justices for striking down Roe v. Wade, telling them that ‘women are not without electoral or political power’
He then addressed the court after the ruling struck down nationwide protections for abortion rights, leaving states free to implement a series of new restrictions.
“And with all due respect, judges, women are not without electoral power – electoral or political power.”
Biden drew on the language of the Dobbs decision itself. The majority wrote: “Our decision returns the issue of abortion to those legislative bodies, and it gives women on both sides of the abortion issue the opportunity to try to influence the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, vote and run for office. Women are not without electoral or political power.”
Then he went after people who ‘boasting about overturning Roe v Wade” and saying they “had no idea about the power of women.” But they figured it out when reproductive freedom came up in 2020 and 2020 and will win again in 2024.”
Biden’s 2024 rival, Donald Trump, is regularly given credit for appointing three conservative justices who voted to strike down Roe.
Three justices who joined the 6-3 opinion striking down Roe were in the room
Biden greeted Chief Justice John Roberts on his way into the chamber
Democrats believe they can make further gains on the abortion issue
The judges were at a disadvantage. Traditionally, they cannot clap or respond to the political rhetoric in the room
The attack on the court came in a speech in which Biden took after his predecessor and called out Republicans in the House of Representatives on tax cuts and border crossings.
The judges were not in a good position to respond. Traditionally, those present do not applaud or engage in activities that could appear biased in any way.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who greeted Biden as he entered the chamber, was present, as were a handful of justices.
The author of the opinion, Justice Samuel Alito, was not there.
Biden hasn’t said anything about it, but the Supreme Court has made crucial decisions in recent weeks that will shape the political terrain of 2024. One ruling reversed a Colorado ruling that removed Donald Trump from the ballot. Another made oral arguments about Trump’s claim of absolute immunity for actions as president. But the timetable could result in Trump’s January 6 trial in Washington DC being postponed until after the election, when he could try to have his prosecution wiped out if elected.