Biden, Schumer, Pelosi: Enough talk. Act. Expand the courts. Now.

Joan McCarter

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday September 01, 2021 · 11:24 AM PDT

2021/09/01 · 11:24

FILE - In this May 12, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Clockwise from left, Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will confer Wednesday, June 23, with White House officials on next steps for President Joe Biden's nearly $4 trillion infrastructure plans as talks with Republicans see-saw in search of a potential deal.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) — Enough talk. Act.

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The Supreme Court just made it absolutely clear that they're ready to toss the one thing Democrats have been running on since 1973, the year Roe v. Wade was decided—protecting women's right to choose an abortion and have control over their own bodies. By refusing to act to uphold Roe in Texas, the conservative majority played their hand. Without a signed order, with no action whatsoever, they’ll be able to show us what they are capable of doing in session when they hear a case from Mississippi this fall.

Any one of the conservative six could have intervened and asked Justice Samuel Alito to grant the application of Texas abortion providers to at least temporarily halt the most restrictive abortion law in the nation from going into effect. None did. And what we get from President Biden is a statement saying, "My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect and defend that right."

He'll defend a right that has literally just been taken away in Texas. How, President Biden? How are you going to stop Texas? How are you going to stop every single red state in the nation from passing that exact same bill and the Supreme Court allowing it? How?

Sign and send the petition: Expand the Supreme Court to protect and expand abortion access.

Those questions go for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, too.

Every woman, everywhere has the constitutional and moral right to basic reproductive health care. We will fight SB8 and all immoral and dangerous attacks on women’s health and freedoms with all our strength.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) September 1, 2021

And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The Supreme Court’s decision to do nothing and let this appalling Texas law go into effect is an effort to rip away women’s rights, health, and reproductive freedoms.

This fight is only just beginning. Democrats will fight against #SB8 and for Roe v. Wade.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 1, 2021

We're "fighting," they say. So do all the Democratic lawmakers (except Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, who are remarkably silent on the issue on Twitter). Like Sens. Patty Murray, Tina Smith, Catherine Cortez Masto, Tammy Baldwin, Maggie Hassan, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Michael Bennet, Raphael Warnock . . . you get the idea. All of them are talking about "fighting" to "defend the right" that the Supreme Court just effectively ended.

Worse, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a statement about how it intends to campaign on the issue. "This attack on women's health care is a powerful reminder of the stakes in next year's election—and why we must defend a Democratic Senate majority with the power to confirm or reject Supreme Court justices."

Here's a suggestion to the DSCC: Don't run on the promise to do something. DO IT and RUN ON WHAT YOU JUST DID. To wit, the senator who gets it right:

Expand the Supreme Court.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) September 1, 2021

So does Rep. Mondaire Jones:

Talk is cheap. To protect reproductive rights once and for all, we must #ExpandTheCourt.
— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) September 1, 2021

They've got the legislation to do just that, legislation that hasn't got a floor vote in the House and will require ending the filibuster in the Senate to pass.

That will take the full commitment from Joe Biden, from Nancy Pelosi, from Chuck Schumer, and every single Democrat who insists that they are fighting to stop talking and start doing. If it means threatening committee assignments and campaign help to Manchin, Sinema, and whoever is fighting filibuster reform, so be it. Put them on defense. All those other Democrats who keep insisting they're fighting aren't off the hook either. They need to be fully engaged in pressuring an end to the filibuster and expanding the Supreme Court.

The court has been spending the last few weeks showing the nation, and Democrats, exactly how dangerous it is. They struck down the Biden administration's eviction moratorium in another unsigned shadow docket decision. That followed the precedent-breaking order from the court attempting to direct Biden's foreign policy and force him to retain Trump's cruel Remain in Mexico policy. And finally, this. Killing Roe and Casey from the shadows by simply refusing to act.

The Supreme Court has to be reformed, and it has to be expanded, period. Biden and Schumer, and Pelosi have to do everything in their power to make that happen. What's the point of having control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, along with the biggest bully pulpit in the world, if you won't use it to secure the future of democracy? Because if they don't, if the status quo continues, there won't be a Democratic majority in either chamber or a Democrat in the White House again for the foreseeable future.

Biden, Schumer, Pelosi: Enough talk. Act. Expand the courts. Now.

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