Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) highlighted concerns on Sunday over Supreme Previous Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring statement in the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which suggested that he was willing to reevaluate court precedents protecting the right to contraception and same-sex marriage, The Hill reported.
“I am deeply concerned about that,” Warren said on ABC’s This Week. “I understand that the rest of the court said ‘no, no, we’re not going there.’ But remember how we got to where we are.”
Along with four other justices, Thomas voted in favor of the majority decision that struck down Roe. However, Thomas stated in a different concurring opinion—to which no other justice joined—that the court needs to take into account reversing other rulings based on the same substantive due process grounds, such as rights to contraception, and same-sex marriage, as well as consensual homosexual sex.
On Sunday, Warren cited Republican efforts over a long period of time to nominate conservative justices to move the court to the right. Warren claimed that these efforts became the party’s strategy to overturn Roe once it became clear that they couldn’t do so through legislation because they lacked “national support.”
Following Friday’s decision, several states swiftly outlawed abortion. In an opinion piece she co-wrote with Sen. Tina Smith, Warren said that President Biden should preserve access to abortion by announcing a public health emergency and adopting executive action.
On Sunday, Warren urged Biden to take action to safeguard medication abortion and permit abortions on federal lands.
In order to enshrine Roe into federal law, the senators also pushed for altering the filibuster, the 60-vote barrier necessary to advance the majority of legislation in the upper house.
However, the moderate senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin’s resistance to ending the filibuster will probably cause them to stumble.
Warren stated on Sunday that in order to advance that policy, Democrats need to gain two more senators to their caucus in the next midterm elections. Warren did not specifically name any of her colleagues.
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