Will Marshall, President of the Progressive Policy Institute, released the following statement:
“Two terrible rulings by the most ideologically strident Supreme Court in memory drive home to Americans how the Republican Party’s embrace of political extremism threatens their liberties and safety.
“Today, the Court’s far-right majority struck down Roe v. Wade, depriving Americans of a right to abortion established as the law of the land nearly a half-century ago. This gives Republican-controlled state legislatures a green light to outlaw abortions – a position that does not enjoy majority support in the country – and makes performing the procedure a felony.
“Earlier this week, the Court struck down a New York gun law requiring citizens for showing ‘proper cause’ for carrying concealed handguns in public places. Finding this modest requirement unconstitutional was Second Amendment absolutism at its worst. It also is out of step with U.S. public opinion, which increasingly favors common sense limits on guns.
“The gun decision ignores both the imperative of public safety and the plain language of the Constitution, which links the right to bear arms to the nation’s need for ‘a well-regulated militia.’ So much for ‘originalism.’ And it’s disquieting to hear Republicans applaud a Supreme Court ruling that makes it harder to protect Americans from today’s epidemic of gun violence.
“These perversely retrograde decisions are the consequence of the Court-packing drive by Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and his party. Voters should remember that when they go to the polls in November.”
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Media Contact: Aaron White; awhite@ppionline.org
