President Joe Biden is warning Americans that their basic freedoms could be rolled back if Donald Trump returns to the White House and appoints more conservatives to the Supreme Court.
In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel on Saturday, Biden, appearing alongside former President Barack Obama, stressed what a Trump presidency could mean for the nation's highest court. Trump is "likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees," Biden said, adding that Trump’s already-appointed justices “have been very negative in terms of the rights of individuals.”
There is currently a six-justice conservative majority in the Supreme Court, with three of the right-wing justices appointed by Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The three appointees were pivotal in overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Biden noted that, after the court ruled that there is no right to an abortion, “you had Clarence Thomas talking about the fact that there are going to be other things we should reconsider, including in — in vitro fertilization, including contraception, including all these things."
“Look," Biden continued, "the fact of the matter is that there has never been a court that’s been this far out of step."
If elected, Biden warned that Trump could appoint two more justices who would be “flying flags upside down,” a reference to conservative justice Samuel Alito, who flew an upside down flag outside his Virginia home following the January 6 insurrection (a symbol adopted by Trump supporters who claimed the 2020 election was stolen).
Both Biden and Obama urged Americans to vote in the upcoming election.
“And hopefully, we have learned our lesson because these elections matter in very concrete ways," Obama said. "And we’re now seeing how much it matters when it comes to the Supreme Court."
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