Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under fire for remarks she made in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. After Trump-appointed US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a decision blocking the FDA’s approval of an abortion pill, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the Biden administration simply ignore the legal ruling.
The Representative from New York said flatly: “I believe that the Biden Administration should ignore this ruling. The courts have the legitimacy and they rely on the legitimacy of their rulings — and what they are currently doing is engaged in an unprecedented and dramatic erosion of the legitimacy of the courts.”
GOP are losing their mind over this, but there’s precedent – including their own.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 9, 2023
Courts ordered Trump to fully restore DACA. They ignored it w/ Republican support.
GOP operate in complete contempt for the law until they’re in a position to shred Constitutional & human rights. https://t.co/kfxsdF5eKG
Recognizing the firestorm she started with her statement, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that “GOP are losing their mind over this, but there’s precedent – including their own,” she writes.
The Congresswoman cites a Trump administration political move in which, she says, “Courts ordered Trump to fully restore DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). They ignored it w/ Republican support.”
[Note: In 2018 a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to resume accepting DACA renewal applications, ruling that the administration had not provided a sufficient explanation for its decision to end the program. While the administration complied with this order and began accepting renewal applications, it continued to challenge the DACA program in other ways — including no longer accepting new applications and shortening the length of renewals. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to end DACA was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated federal law. After the SCOTUS decision, the Trump administration continued to restrict the program in various ways, such as limiting new applications and again shortening the length of renewals.]
Ocasio-Cortez’s suggestion that the judge’s decision be ignored is an extreme measure which, by defanging the courts, would do harm to the 3-branch system of governance. Ocasio-Cortez contends the system has already been broken by self-inflicted wounds to the judiciary.
Explaining her position, Ocasio-Cortez writes: “It’s called agency non-acquiescence. The courts are now going rogue with rulings that no longer even pretend to respect precedent, jurisprudence, or limits to overreach. They are long overdue for a check & balance. Not doing so paves a dangerous road of worsening abuse of power.”
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon agreed with Ocasio-Cortez.
This devastating ruling has no basis in law and will ban the most common method of abortion in EVERY single state.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) April 7, 2023
President Biden can and must ignore this ruling and keep mifepristone on the market and accessible for every woman in America. https://t.co/g5fyYI4zkr
Legitimacy of the courts has been a topline topic for lawmakers this week after revelations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been receiving lavish unreported vacations for decades from a conservative billionaire, triggering renewed calls for the judicial branch to be subject to stricter ethics rules. Ocasio-Cortez has called for Thomas to be impeached.
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