[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 74 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2298-S2299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           U.S. Supreme Court

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank the always gracious, always 
thoughtful, always perspicacious, always persistent--and many other 
good adjectives--Senator from Pennsylvania for yielding.
  Now, Mr. President, there is only one way--only one way--to describe 
the Supreme Court's reported decision to overturn Roe v. Wade: an 
abomination.
  Such a decision, if it comes to pass, would be an utter abomination. 
Women across America would suffer irreparable harm to their rights, 
their health, and their dignity. It would go down as one of the worst 
and most damaging opinions that the Court has handed down in modern 
history, and the Court would suffer a mortal blow to its reputation 
that I fear will last forever.
  Yesterday, I pledged that Senate Democrats will act on legislation to 
codify Roe into law. It is vital that we act quickly because this is no 
longer an abstract exercise. This is as real as it gets, America--as 
real as it gets.
  Every single American is going to see where every single Senator 
stands on protecting a woman's right to choose. And rest assured, 
Americans will be watching.
  Now, we must be clear. This week's draft decision didn't come out of 
nowhere. It didn't materialize in a vacuum. Indeed, the blame for the 
end of Roe lies primarily right across the aisle here with Senate 
Republicans.
  The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe would never have been 
possible without Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans spending years 
packing our courts with hard-right judges, judges who came from a list 
under the Trump years that the Federalist Society approved. And the 
Federalist Society's purpose, when it was put into action, from what I 
have read, is to repeal Roe. And the Republicans on this side of the 
aisle, right there, were willing--willing--accomplices in that deed.
  Let me say it again. The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe 
would have never been possible without Leader McConnell and Senate 
Republicans spending years packing our courts with hard-right judges.
  Now, Republicans are twisting themselves into pretzels, trying to 
distract from this truth. Yesterday, Leader McConnell said that the 
real story was somehow the leaks and not the end of Roe.
  Can you believe that? The leaks are more important than the rights of 
100 million American women? Give me a break.
  And when Leader McConnell evidently was asked at his press conference 
yesterday: Are you glad Roe would be repealed, he wouldn't even answer 
that, even though he had worked years to do it, because they know where 
history is going. They know where the American people are. They know 
they are on the wrong side of both so they are trying to ``low key'' 
it.
  Republicans have spent decades trying to achieve the end of Roe, and 
now that they are about to succeed, they are flailing around, talking 
about a leak instead of owning up to their own actions. We won't let 
them. We know, all of us, why Republicans are spending

[[Page S2299]]

all their focus on the leak. It is because they don't want to focus on 
Roe, where, again, they are on the wrong side of history and the wrong 
side of the American people.
  Their hypocrisy and refusal to own this decision is utterly shameful. 
The end of a constitutional right to choose is not some small or 
inconsequential subject; it is huge. It touches on one of the most 
personal, most private, most important decisions a woman can make 
regarding her body.
  So it is worth saying again: Without Senate Republicans working years 
to pack our courts, without them changing the rules of the Senate to 
confirm three ideological Justices, Roe would not--would not--be on the 
brink of being overturned.
  And don't take my word for it. Leader McConnell himself expected and 
hoped for this outcome. When asked in 2019 what confirming President 
Trump's Justices meant for the antiabortion movement, he said:

       There are a number of [States] who have enacted new 
     legislation [that] would be winding its way up through the 
     courts and [it] gives us an opportunity to begin to pick away 
     at Roe v. Wade.

  ``Pick away at Roe v. Wade.''
  So what the Court did was not an aberration; it was a plan, a plan by 
Senate Republicans, a plan by Leader McConnell.
  Senate Republicans spent years rubberstamping one radical Trump judge 
after another onto the Federal bench in order to ``pick away at Roe.''
  Many of these judges were wildly unqualified. Many of them were out 
of step--far out of step--from the American mainstream.
  What is more, every single Republican also changed Senate rules to 
confirm not one, not two, but three Trump Justices to the U.S. Supreme 
Court, assuring a 6-to-3 conservative majority. Some of these Justices 
lied to the Senate by misrepresenting their views on respecting 
precedent when it came to decisions like Roe.
  And, of course, after the death of Justice Scalia, Leader McConnell 
took the unprecedented and truly destructive step of preventing the 
Senate from considering the nomination of Merrick Garland.
  So nobody here should be fooled. Nobody in America should be fooled. 
The Republican leader might not say it, but the end of Roe is a 
culmination of actions taken by the Republican leader and the 
Republican Party writ large to skew our courts with hard-right, 
ideological, vehemently anti-choice judges.
  And now that they are close to succeeding, they can't even bring 
themselves to own up to their own actions because they know--they 
know--just how strongly the American people oppose restricting the 
right to choose.
  But this is not the end of the story. Republicans cannot hide from 
the American people and cannot hide their role in bringing Roe to an 
end. They will have to answer to the people this month, this year, and 
especially this November, when American voters go to the polls. And we 
are going to vote here in the Senate to make clear where every single 
Member stands on the right to choose.
  Few issues--few issues--are as personal, as private, and as important 
to Americans as whether or not to have an abortion. The Nation will be 
watching to see who in this Chamber will defend this precious right to 
choose and who will stand with the Roberts Court to destroy this right 
in one fell swoop.