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Democrats and Their Allies Sure Are Increasing Their Attacks on SCOTUS

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 19, 2024 2:15 PM

The warning signs have been there for some time when it comes to how Democrats are looking to go after the U.S. Supreme Court as an election issue. With major Court decisions still expected to come in the following days, Democrats have been ratcheting up their attacks against the institution, and they're only getting more bold as they do so. Such Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media don't merely justify their actions, they look to be getting more aggressive as well, and call on others to join them. 

Last week, the Court struck down a bump stock ban from the Trump administration. Liberals, including elected officials, ranted out their outrage. As Jacob Sullum pointed out in a column published in Townhall, however, "Critics Fundamentally Misconstrue the Supreme Court's Bump Stock Ruling." 

"The Court's decision upheld an important principle that goes far beyond gun control: Federal bureaucrats do not have the authority to invent new crimes by rewriting the law," Sullum explained.

Among those not only expressing outrage at but also misinterpreting the ruling was Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a member particularly passionate about gun control and anything he thinks might be related to the issue, but also one who, as a lawyer, should know better.

Murphy appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, where gun control, the Garland v. Cargill decision, and the Court were all brought up. Responding to points from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) made earlier in the program, Murphy insisted that "now that [Repulicans] have got a Supreme Court that seems ready to unwind the entirety of the Second Amendment and take away from Congress or the executive branch the ability to keep our communities safe, they're once again lining up behind the gun industry."

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He doubled down on his attacks from there, pointing out how he's worried "that this Supreme Court has been signaling in some of their decisions on guns that they are readying to fundamentally rewrite the Second Amendment and take away permanently the ability of Congress to do simple things like require people to go through a background check or move forward on taking dangerous weapons like AR-15s off of the streets." For good measure, Murphy also claimed "I think this Court is poised to make it very hard for Congress or state legislatures to be able to regulate guns and keep our communities and schools safe."

It's not just Murphy who is targeting the Court, though, and he insists that others should as well, even and including President Joe Biden. Tapper brought up how at the Saturday fundraiser in Los Angeles, Biden expressed that "the Court has never been as out of kilter as it is today," among other remarks. Considering that a memorable narrative of such a fundraiser is that former President Barack Obama guided Biden off of the stage, it looks like the president came across as not just a senile old man, but an angry and partisan one as well. 

"Is it appropriate for a president to criticize the Court like that," Tapper asked. In response, Murphy declared without hesitation "oh, absolutely." He went on to claim that "I think there's a crisis on the Court, I mean, in particular with respect to Justice Alito and Justice Thomas," as he went after two conservative justices in particular who have been targets of the left, especially after hit pieces from the media.

"What Justice Thomas is engaged in is just a grift, right? He's got a major political player on the outside who absolutely has political and business interests at the court paying off a justice," Murphy charged. "Justice Alito is openly displaying affiliation with political causes in public."

"I think it would be irresponsible for the president not to talk about the fact that this Court is becoming brazenly corrupt and brazenly political," Murphy continued to emphasize. "And it's up to the American people this election to do something about that. It's also up to Congress to step up and pass a code of conduct, a code of ethical conduct, for this Court before it's too late."

Neither Murphy nor Tapper brought up concerns about liberal justices, especially when it comes to the recent revelation that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was gifted concert tickets from Beyoncé that she didn't disclose. 

That so-called "code of ethical conduct" that Murphy brought up refers to legislation from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), which Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) sought to have passed by unanimous consent last week, though Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) objected and plenty of other Republicans spoke out against it.

The timing of such a bill has been criticized by legal experts, including Curt Levey, a constitutional law attorney and the president of the Committee for Justice. As Levey pointed out in speaking to Townhall on multiple occasions, the timing has to do with Democrats' frustration with the Court as they expect decisions to come down to do with the 2020 election and January 6, which they might not be too happy with. Tapper himself reminded Murphy of such cases during the segment. 

"You can bet that [Democrats] will do everything in their power to try to question the integrity and legitimacy of the Court between now and over the next month," Levey has also shared before when it comes to Durbin and Whitehouse demanding Alito recuse from such cases, even after he refused to do so. 

Murphy himself was proud of his segment, and even posted about it to his own X account by sharing a clip, doubling down even further how his fellow Democrats should join Biden, who "is right to call out the truth." This time, Murphy also lambasted the conservative justices for being "radical, anti choice, pro Trump corporate apologists."

Biden criticizing the Court is hardly new. During his hyperpartisan State of the Union address from March, the president brought up the Court over the issue of abortion, a particular priority for the Biden reelection campaign. 

"With all due respect, Justices, Women are not without electrical power! Excuse me, electoral or political power," Biden said, mixing up his words. "You’re about to realize just how much you were right about that," he continued, as he was drowned out by raucous applause from his fellow pro-abortion Democrats. 

Biden has also repeatedly bragged about how he's defied the Court with his student loan debt, an election year ploy meant to curry favor, and votes, from young people. The president even did so the same week he claimed "No one is above the law" in reference to former and potentially future President Donald Trump being convicted on 34 felony charges on May 30. 

It's not merely Democrats like Murphy and Biden himself who are going after the Court. The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin earlier this month wrote about the November elections in reference to plans for Democratic majorities in Congress to impeach Alito, push "a mandatory ethics code, Supreme Court term limits and court expansion."

On Monday, the particularly anti-SCOTUS Ian Millhiser at VOX went for a similar take on urging Democrats, should they win majorities in November, to go after Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. The piece also cited Rubin's column. 

"Nothing will be off of the table," the Judicial Crisis Network's Carrie Severino warned about Millhiser's article. 

Rubin had another frightening take more recently as well, with our sister site of Twitchy joining in on the mockery of Rubin's hysterical warnings about abortion and Thomas.

"So be forewarned: If MAGA extremists return power, they and their radical handmaidens on the Supreme Court will not hesitate to create Clarence Thomas’s America. It won’t be a place that the vast majority of Americans find congenial — or even recognizable," she screeched in her Monday column, making clear she believes "the Supreme Court has not become reasonable."