During the State of the Union Address last night, President Joe Biden went after the Supreme Court over the 5-4 June 2022 ruling that returned the power to decide abortion rights back to the states.
Did Joe Biden just threaten the Supreme Court justices?
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) March 8, 2024
“With all due respect, justices, women are not without electrical power! Excuse me electoral or political power,” Biden said.
Joe Biden THREATENS the Supreme Court:
"With all due respect, Justices, Women are not without electrical power! Excuse me, electoral or political power. You're about to realize just how much you're…"#SOTU pic.twitter.com/KkZqS7OqI6
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 8, 2024
Right after that, in what seemed like an “off the cuff” moment, Biden said “You’re about to realize just how much,” prompting Democrats in the chamber to jump to their feet and cheer, cutting off Biden’s attempt to speak in the process.
Had Democrats not stood up and cheered, Biden’s attempt to ad-lib would have sounded like nonsense, but it was drowned out by the noise.
Each of the justices, dressed in their traditional black robes and sitting on the front row, sat expressionless and motionless as the president addressed them. Most presidents do not directly confront Supreme Court justices in this manner, but Biden was trying to make a point.
Interestingly, the justices of the Supreme Court are not supposed to take political stances, and they are not voted on by the people. A discussion on the political power of any voter is not supposed to mean anything to the justices and has no effect on their rulings.
While addressing the justices and giving a lot of time to discussing reproductive rights in his speech, Biden never actually said the word “abortion.” In fact, he rarely uses the word.
Biden is a Catholic, but his desire to reinstate Roe v. Wade directly contradicts his faith. He has chosen to make the pursuit of abortion rights one of the centerpoints of his campaign, even if he struggles to say the word consistently.
Pro-abortion activists, however, seem to have little trouble supporting Biden even with his Catholic background.
“Tonight, President Biden reaffirmed that he has our back,” Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom For All, said in a statement.
“The stakes this November could not be higher for reproductive freedom, abortion access, and our democracy itself. Every step of progress that we hope to make nationally depends on the reelection of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and delivering Democratic majorities in Congress,” she added.
Meanwhile, conservatives like Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) condemned Biden for threatening the justices.
Tonight, Joe Biden threatened Supreme Court justices, promised to send billions of tax dollars overseas, and mocked concerns about the border crisis that he caused.
The State of the Union will be stronger when Joe Biden has nothing to do with it. pic.twitter.com/nYAUTbNnrj
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) March 8, 2024