Mike Lee issues challenge to Elizabeth Warren after she claims 'right-wing extremists' have 'hijacked' Supreme Court



Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) challenged Democratic colleague Sen. Elizabeth Warren to a debate this week over her renewed demands to pack the Supreme Court.

What did Warren say?

Amid new allegations of ethical impropriety against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Warren claimed on Monday that "right-wing extremists" have "hijacked" the Supreme Court.

The only antidote for such a disease, according to Warren, is to pack the court with justices who would issue rulings that she agrees with. She couched her demands using language about "rebalance" and protecting "our democracy."

"I'll just be blunt: right-wing extremists have hijacked the Supreme Court of the United States. From shredding abortion rights to rigging the rules against workers and consumers, an out-of-touch majority is substituting their own views for the rule of law," Warren said.

"For the sake of our freedoms and the sake of our democracy, we must expand the Supreme Court to rebalance it, and we need to institute a binding code of ethics for the justices," she added.

\u201cFor the sake of our freedoms and the sake of our democracy, we must expand the Supreme Court to rebalance it, and we need to institute a binding code of ethics for the justices.\u201d
— Elizabeth Warren (@Elizabeth Warren) 1682345129

How did Lee respond?

The Utah Republican offered to debate Warren about the merits of her demands.

"I'd love to debate you on this topic at a mutually agreeable time and venue," he told her on Tuesday.

Lee also directed Warren to his book, "Saving Nine," which makes a comprehensive argument against expanding the Supreme Court. Some of the most compelling evidence in Lee's book focuses on the words of Democrats and liberal-leaning justices who warned against packing the court.

\u201c.@ewarren, I\u2019d love to debate you on this topic at a mutually agreeable time and venue. In the meantime, please take a look at Saving Nine, which I wrote to defend the position previously held by @POTUS\u2014that packing the Supreme Court would harm all of us. https://t.co/6ImeXEpRuV\u201d
— Mike Lee (@Mike Lee) 1682395368

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for instance, was a prominent critic of Democrats'' ideas of "court reform."

"I have heard that there are some people on the Democratic side who would like to increase the number of judges. I think that was a bad idea when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to pack the court," Ginsburg told NPR in 2019.

"[I]f anything would make the court appear partisan then it would be that, one side saying, 'When we're in power we're going to enlarge the number of judges so we'll have more people who will vote the way we want them to,'" she added.

Warren did not respond to Lee's debate challenge.

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Democrats unhinged after SCOTUS allows Texas law barring abortions after 6 weeks to take effect: 'Chaos on the ground'



A new pro-life law in Texas that bars abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected — or as early as six weeks into pregnancy — is infuriating Democrats both statewide and on the national stage.

What's the background?

The law, S.B. 8, went into effect at midnight Tuesday after the Supreme Court declined to take action on an emergency request to block it.

Under the new legislation, physicians in the state are prohibited from "knowingly perform[ing] or induce[ing] an abortion on a pregnant woman if the physician detected a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child ... or failed to perform a test to detect a fetal heartbeat."

However, the bill has no criminal enforcement provision for state officials. Rather, the ban will be "enforced exclusively through the private civil actions," allowing private individuals to police violations by suing those who perform an abortion or "aids and abets" it.

While abortion patients can't be sued, the law allows doctors, staff members at abortion clinics, abortion counselors, and anyone who helped pay for a procedure to be subject to a civil lawsuit. Scholars say this provision is what makes the law difficult to challenge.

What has been the reaction?

Democrats in the state are crying foul, claiming the law unfairly sidesteps the legal precedent established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which together grant a constitutional right to abortion and forbid states from banning abortion before fetal viability — or the point at which babies can survive outside the womb, typically considered to be 22 weeks.

In a desperate emergency request to the Supreme Court, abortion providers lament that the new law will "immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas, barring care for at least 85 percent of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close."

The Texas Tribune reported that major abortion providers Planned Parenthood and Whole Women's Health have claimed that the new law has resulted in "chaos on the ground."

As an example, women in Texas reportedly rushed to abortion clinics to have procedures.

In a tweet thread, Whole Women's Health said doctors and staff at its clinics in Texas reportedly stayed until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday before the law took effect to perform abortions, saying "waiting rooms are filled with patients and their loved ones."

From Whole Woman’s Health CEO @AmyHM: We have staff and doctors providing abortions in Texas - still at this hour -… https://t.co/CC0CEoWn5B

— Whole Woman's Health (@WholeWomans) 1630463927.0

"We are under surveillance," the group added. "This is what abortion care looks like. Human right warriors."

We are so proud of Team Whole Woman’s Health. No matter what the courts say, you are good and right and strong and… https://t.co/4Jc3K22SCY

— Whole Woman's Health (@WholeWomans) 1630463928.0

What else?

Democratic politicians and media figures on the national stage have also filled social media with criticism for the new law.

President Joe Biden slammed the legislation in a statement, saying, "This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century."

Progressive Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) derided the law as racist and oppressive.

I’m thinking about the Black, brown, low-income, queer, and young folks in Texas. The folks this abortion health ca… https://t.co/Ue5HpCaJ0t

— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) 1630503883.0

Hillary Clinton also took aim at the law and the Supreme Court's inaction in a tweet.

Under the cover of darkness, by choosing to do nothing, the Supreme Court allowed an unconstitutional abortion ban… https://t.co/EYwnsnXhXU

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) 1630511149.0

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) used the legislation as an opportunity to reference remarks she made during her 2020 presidential run.

Let’s be clear about what just happened in Texas: The second-largest state in America has effectively banned aborti… https://t.co/Kqac6JtT3I

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) 1630505502.0

Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders called the law "outrageous," adding, "Women get to control their bodies, not politicians and not judges."

Nearly half a century ago, the Supreme Court affirmed abortion as a constitutional right. This Supreme Court's refu… https://t.co/CbWRSf9OK5

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) 1630519870.0

Countless others have also taken to social media to voice their opposition.

In an ad backing California's Gov. Newsom, Warren claims 'Trump Republicans' are 'abusing the recall process'



As Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a recall election in the Golden State, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is backing him in a new ad.

"We've seen Trump Republicans across the country attacking election results and the right to vote. Now they're coming to grab power in California, abusing the recall process and costing taxpayers millions," Warren claims in the ad.

"Vote no to protect California and our democracy. Stop the Republican recall," she said.

NEW AD: Elizabeth Warren urges Californians to VOTE NO on the recall of Governor Newsom by September 14… https://t.co/msXTrdsa14

— StopTheRepublicanRecall (@StopRepRecall) 1627497163.0

Warren has served as a senator from Massachusetts since January 2013. She mounted a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination during the previous election cycle but ultimately dropped out.

In a March tweet Warren claimed that "extreme right-wing Republicans are trying to recall" California's governor.

In a naked partisan power grab, extreme right-wing Republicans are trying to recall @GavinNewsom. Why? Because he d… https://t.co/7nkAoNRPcF

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) 1615844301.0

On the ballot voters will be asked whether Newsom should be recalled and they will be able to select from the vast field of candidates vying to replace him.

There are dozens of candidates are seeking to replace Newsom in the gubernatorial recall contest.

Some of them include talk radio host Larry Elder and Caitlyn Jenner, a bioloigical male who won a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics but came out decades later as transgender.

If a majority of voters cast their ballot to oust Newsom from office, the candidate who receives the most votes will become the state's new governor.

If voters decide to eject the governor from office he will be removed more than a year before his term is slated to end and his ouster would mark the second successful gubernatorial recall in the state.

Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled back in 2003 and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger won that recall contest.

According to the Associated Press, the GOP not won statewide office in California since Schwarzenegger won the 2006 gubernatorial election.