Only a few hours after the US Supreme Court delivered a decision that confirmed what sane people have known for the past 50 years, that there is no right in the US Constitution, actual or emanating from a penumbra, that allows a baby to be murdered in utereo, Joey SoftServe shuffled up to the White House lectern and mumbled his instantly forgettable take on this momentous occasion.
The speech was a subliterate hot mess of world salad. I’ve provided the transcript below. Just a note, the closed captioning by CBS cleans up the illiteracy and actually omits some of the more stupid things Biden says.
Main points.
This is the fault of Donald Trump. Even though we were lectured over and over about how there was no such thing as “Obama judges” and “Trump judges,” we now have verification that there is a difference.
It was three justices, named by one president, Donald Trump, who were the core of today’s decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country.
The decision is the culmination of a decades-long right-wing conspiracy to totally enslave women.
Make no mistake, this decision is a culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law. It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court, in my view. The Court has done what it has never done before: expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans that had already been recognized.
The Supreme Court is extreme.
With this decision a conservative majority of the Supreme Court shows how extreme it is, how far removed from the majority of the country. They made the United State and outlier among developed nations or the world, but this decision must not be the final word.
Because something has been allowed for a long time, it is sacrosanct. Biden had no comment on his views on Plessy vs. Ferguson or Korematsu vs. United States.
A decision with broad national consensus that most Americans of faith and backgrounds found acceptable, and had been the law of the land for most of the lifetime of Americans today. And it was a constitutional principle upheld by justices appointed by Democrat and Republican presidents alike.
Republicans are going to be checking the mail and searching your homes for contraceptives and “morning after” pills. If you are a woman, they will be tracking your ass by an app on your smartphone.
My administration will also protect a woman’s right to access to medications that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, like contraception, which is essential for preventive health care. Mifepristone, which the FDA approved 20 years ago to safely end early pregnancies and is commonly used to treat miscarriages. Some states are saying they will try to ban or severely restrict access to these medication. But extremist state legislators and governors are looking to block the mail or search a person’s medicine cabinet or control a woman’s actions by tracking data on an app she uses are wrong and extreme and out of touch with the majority of Americans.
This sort of sounds familiar doesn’t it.
Biden and his cronies plan to actively work to undermine this Supreme Court decision in direct opposition to their collective oaths of office.
My administration will use all of its appropriate, lawful powers, but Congress must act. And with your vote you can act. You can have the final word. This is not over.
Whatever you do, when you riot, do it peacefully.
Let me close with two points. First, I call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful. Peaceful. Peaceful. Peaceful. No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form, regardless of your rationale. Second, I know so many of us are frustrated and disillusioned that the Court has taken something away that is so fundamental. I know so many women are now going to face incredibly difficult situations. I hear you. I support you. I stand with you.
I’d just note that this was how President Trump ended his speech on January 6. When you place this in the context of Biden’s refusal to condemn the assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh and his Justice Department’s refusal to act on attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and assassination threats against Supreme Court justices
#BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan and @RepMikeJohnson demand Garland explain why the Department of Justice has repeatedly refused to prosecute threats against #SCOTUS justices pic.twitter.com/O52eJlc26h
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) June 23, 2022
and Biden and his Justice Department condemning today’s decision
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Statement on Supreme Court Ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationhttps://t.co/NFPFztKCAH pic.twitter.com/O6Tz54erJ1
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) June 24, 2022
it is hard to interpret this message as anything other than a call for street violence.
This speech, as semi-literate as it was, gives a good insight into the lawless regime now occupying the White House.
TRANSCRIPT
It’s not hyperbole to suggest a very solemn moment.
Today the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away the Constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized. They didn’t limit it, they simply took it away. It’s never been done to a right so important to so many Americans. But they did it.
It’s a sad day for the Court and for the country.
Fifty years ago, Roe v. Wade was decided and has been the law of the land since then.
This landmark case protected a woman’s right to choose; to make intensely personal decisions with her doctor free from interference from politics. To reaffirm basic principles of equality, that women have the power to control their own destiny, and reinforce the fundamental right or privacy, the right of each of us to choose how to live our lives.
Now, with Roe gone, let’s be very clear. The health and life of women in this nation are now at risk. As chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Vice President and now President of the United States, I’ve studied this case carefully. I’ve overseen more Supreme Court confirmations than anyone today where this case as always discussed. I believe Roe v. Wade was the correct decision as a matter of constitutional law and the application of the fundamental right to privacy and liberty in matters of family and personal autonomy.
It was a decision on a complex matter, that drew a careful balance between a woman’s right to choose earlier in her pregnancy and the state’s ability to regulate later in her pregnancy. A decision with broad national consensus that most Americans of faith and backgrounds found acceptable, and had been the law of the land for most of the lifetime of Americans today. And it was a constitutional principle upheld by justices appointed by Democrat and Republican presidents alike.
Roe v. Wade was 7-2 decision, written by a justice appointed by a Republican president, Richard Nixon. In the five decades that followed Roe v. Wade justices appointed by Republican presidents, from Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush were among the justices that voted to uphold the principles set forth in Roe v. Wade.
It was three justices, named by one president, Donald Trump, who were the core of today’s decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country.
Make no mistake, this decision is a culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law. It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court, in my view. The Court has done what it has never done before: expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans that had already been recognized.
The Court’s decision to do so will have real and immediate consequences. State laws banning abortion are automatically taking effect today, jeopardizing the health of millions of women, some without exceptions. So extreme that the women can be punished for protecting their health. So extreme that women and girls were forced to bear their rapist’s child. A child of a consequence, it just stuns me. So extreme that doctors will be criminalized for fulfilling their duty to care. Imagine having a young woman to carry a child of incest—as a consequence of incest with no option. Too often the case. The poor women are going to be hit the hardest. It is cruel. In fact, the Court laid out state laws criminalizing abortion that go back to the 1800s as a rationale. The Court literally taking America back 150 years. This is a sad day for the country, in my view. But it doesn’t mean that the fight is over.
Let me be very clear and unambiguous: the only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose in the balance that existed, is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law. No executive action from the president can do that. And if Congress, as it appears, lacks the votes to do that now, voters need to make their voices heard. This fall you must elect more senators and representatives who codify a woman’s right to choose into federal law once again. Elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do that. This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, they’re all on the ballot. Until then, I will do all in my power to protect a woman’s right in states where they will face the consequences of today’s decision.
While the Court’s decision cast a dark shadow over a large swath of the land, many states in this country still recognize a woman’s right to choose. So, if a woman lives in a state that restricts abortion, the Supreme Court’s decision does not prevent her from traveling from her home state to the state that allows it. It does not prevent a doctor in that state from treating her.
As the Attorney General has made clear, women must remain free to trave safely to another state to seek care they need. My administration will defend that bedrock right. If any state or local official, high or low, tries to interfere with a woman’s exercise of her basic right to travel, I will do everything in my power to fight that deeply un-American attack. My administration will also protect a woman’s right to access to medications that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, like contraception, which is essential for preventive health care. Mifepristone, which the FDA approved 20 years ago to safely end early pregnancies and is commonly used to treat miscarriages. Some states are saying they will try to ban or severely restrict access to these medication. But extremist state legislators and governors are looking to block the mail or search a person’s medicine cabinet or control a woman’s actions by tracking data on an app she uses are wrong and extreme and out of touch with the majority of Americans.
The American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, wrote to me and Vice President Harris stressing that these laws are not based on evidence and asking us to protect access to care. They say by limiting access to these medicines, maternal mortality will climb in America, that’s what they say.
Today I’m directing the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to ensure these critical medications are available to the fullest extent possible. And the politicians cannot interfere in the decisions that should be made between a woman and her doctor.
My administration will remain vigilant as the implications of this decision play out. I’ve warned about how this decision risks the broader right to privacy for everyone. That’s because Roe recognized the fundamental right to privacy that has served as the basis for so many more rights that — we’ve come to take for granted that are engrained in the fabric of this country — the right to make the best decisions for your health, the right to use birth control, the right to privacy of a couple in their bedroom, for God’s sake, the right to marry the person you love. Justice Thomas said as much today, he explicitly called to reconsider the right of marriage equality, the right of couples to make their choices on contraception. This is an extreme and dangerous path that the court is now taking us on.
Let me close with two points. First, I call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful. Peaceful. Peaceful. Peaceful. No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form, regardless of your rationale. Second, I know so many of us are frustrated and disillusioned that the Court has taken something away that is so fundamental. I know so many women are now going to face incredibly difficult situations. I hear you. I support you. I stand with you.
The consequences and consensus of the American people, core principles of equality, liberty, dignity, and stability of the rule of law demand that Roe should not have been overturned. With this decision a conservative majority of the Supreme Court shows how extreme it is, how far removed from the majority of the country. They made the United State and outlier among developed nations or the world, but this decision must not be the final word. My administration will use all of its appropriate, lawful powers, but Congress must act. And with your vote you can act. You can have the final word. This is not over.
Thank you very much. I’ll have more to say on this in the weeks to come.
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