Shortly after news leaked that the Supreme Court was poised to shred Roe v. Wade, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave his Republican caucus its marching orders. The news was, he said, "Not a leaked draft, but the fact that the draft was leaked."
Translation: Whatever you do, don't talk about the substance, people. The American public doesn't need any reminders that our right-wing court is about to upend reproductive law as we have known it for 50 years.
But after railing about what a "stunning breach" the leak was for roughly 48 hours, Senate Republicans got back to showing their true colors. Returning the abortion issue to the states is just a pit stop, but it will never suffice as a destination for them or their extremist GOP base.
"We need to discuss what the role of the federal government will be in this," Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa told NBC News. "I know that states will enact different laws — that would likely happen should the deliberations go the way that everybody thinks they will."
Christine Pelosi talks about the Supreme Court's leaked decision on Roe v. Wade, and what Democrats are doing now, on Daily Kos’ The Brief podcast
But that complicated patchwork of abortion restrictions and rights isn’t a long-term solution for forced birthers. Indeed, Ernst, who's a member of the GOP leadership, says Senate Republicans are weighing whether Congress should enact abortion restrictions nationwide.
"We're debating now," Ernst said. "We're going to continue to debate that. I think that's important that we do that, to debate it."
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was a little more decisive.
"I have supported numerous federal bills, and I'm sure there will be more pieces of federal legislation that are considered," Cruz said.
But it was Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota who really put a point on why nothing short of a federal ban will do for Republicans.
“Just take my state of North Dakota. Having a North Dakota child killed in the womb in Fargo versus Moorhead, Minnesota, you know, on the other side of the Red River — I don’t find a lot of solace in that just because it didn’t happen in my state,” Cramer told NBC. “I think you could expect that pro-life activists would push for federal protections. I mean, I wouldn’t take that off the table.”
This is precisely the conversation and the midterm messaging McConnell was desperate to avoid—the reality that Republicans ultimately want to codify an abortion ban into federal law. On Tuesday, McConnell sought to pour cold water on discussion of federal restrictions by vowing to preserve the filibuster—the 60-vote threshold—for passing legislation if Republicans reclaim the Senate majority in November. In other words, don't worry, we'll never find 60 votes to outlaw abortion nationwide.
When asked if he would protect the filibuster at all costs, McConnell shot back, "Absolutely. ... We don’t want to break the Senate, and that’s breaking the Senate.”
You read that right. McConnell, who stole two seats on the Supreme Court—and eliminated the filibuster to do it—is now worried about the integrity of the Senate.
Lest anyone forget, McConnell built the monster that is getting ready to declare open season on every right and protection afforded to anyone who isn't white, male, and hetero. That, in turn, will instantly make the Supreme Court one of the least trusted institutions in the country, courtesy of McConnell and Senate Republicans.
As Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said, "The abomination of that leaked opinion is coming to find every one of us."
Make no mistake: That's the GOP project now. They’re coming for us, and they will be using every tool at their disposal to do so—be it the high court, the House, the Senate, or the White House. And when the time is right, McConnell won't think twice about killing the filibuster to achieve his legislative ends, just like he didn't think twice about killing the filibuster to pack the high court with right-wing justices.
Ernst, Cruz, and Cramer know that. So does McConnell, he just wishes his caucus members weren’t giving away the game before November.
