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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Discusses Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade; Pro-Life Activists Celebrate Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade; House Passes Historic Gun Reform Bill; Justice Thomas Calls for Supreme Court to Revisit Rulings on Same-Sex Marriage, Contraceptives & Other Rights; Pro-Abortion Protesters Gather Outside of Supreme Court. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired June 24, 2022 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): That is the answer to this extreme court that is out of touch, put in there, sadly, by Republican colleagues and Donald Trump.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And, Senator, as a result of this decision today, women are going to need support. And I know Democrats tried to pass paid family leave as part of the Build Back Better bill.
When you talk about going on the offensive, is this something your party should be looking at, trying to pass some kind of stand-alone bill in that respect?
KLOBUCHAR: We actually had a vote on this bill, and not one Republican joined us in upholding and codifying Roe v. Wade into law.
But you're right, the women of America want their rights. But they also want paid family leave. They want us to finally do something on childcare, something the Democratic Party strongly supports, preschool.
All of these things are things I believe we should do and we can do.
But today, Frederica, today is about a fundamental right that has been struck down by this court. And it is on the people of America. We're asking for their help to restore this right.
You just -- we cannot go backwards in this country. We cannot have the women of the country -- young women like my daughter grow up and have less rights than their moms and their grandmas.
That just can't be the America we live in. And that's what you're seeing out on the streets today.
WHITFIELD: Senator Amy Klobuchar, good to see you. Thank you so much.
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you. Thanks for having me on.
WHITFIELD: Joining us right now is Kristen Day. She is an anti- abortion advocate and executive director for Democrats for Life of America.
Kristen, so good to see you.
So your reaction to today's ruling?
KRISTEN DAY, ANTI-ABORTION ADVOCATE & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEMOCRATS FOR LIFE OF AMERICA: I never thought I would see this in my lifetime, see Roe v. Wade be overturned. We're very excited about the decision today.
WHITFIELD: And why?
DAY: You know, this gives us an opportunity to go back to the states and see how we can really do more to focus on what women really need. A lot of women who seek abortion don't want one.
And the focus has been so much on, should abortion be legal or illegal, and not enough attention has been paid to what women do want. And they want to have the support to carry their child to term. They don't want to have abortions.
Each state is going to have their individual challenges to try to support abortion. We have states like New Jersey that will have abortion legal up to nine months. But they also have very high abortion rates in their states.
(CROSSTALK)
DAY: So the challenge there is to try to lower the rate.
In the states where they will limit abortion to eight weeks, they will have to do a better job making sure women, post-eight weeks, have the support to carry their child to term.
WHITFIELD: And what is your argument or response to women who say they want more rights, more protections, not less?
DAY: You know, when you talk to women who are seeking abortions, they don't want abortion, especially in these states with high abortion rates.
When you talk to women in the black and brown community, who are overrepresented in the abortion numbers, they don't want abortion. They want the opportunity to parent.
WHITFIELD: So --
DAY: You know, most of the women who seek abortion are low income. And what we're telling women, low-income women, abortion is your best option?
Like now is the time to reframe that and say, you know what, we're going to make a concerted effort to make sure all women have the opportunity to parent.
(CROSSTALK) DAY: Because abortion is still going to be legal in plenty of states.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: I'm sorry to interrupt.
DAY: And we need to focus in on those states and give women a real choice.
WHITFIELD: Are you also disputing that 80 percent of Americans do believe women should have the choice, the right to choose?
DAY: I think, the numbers, it depends on how you ask a question, and it depends on where you place the limitation on abortion.
When you look at polls, a majority of Americans do support a limitation at 12 weeks. You know, and that number goes down as you go further in the abortion. Twenty weeks or late-term abortions, fewer women and men support later-term abortions.
And the trend has been to go extreme on abortion in deregulating abortion and making it less safe for women in some of the blue states that we were fighting back again, such as in New Jersey.
We just really need to get our house back in order and say, OK, what can we do for women? How can we make sure -- if abortion is legal in these states, how can we make sure it is safe for women still?
By bringing back regulation, health and safety regulations. And making sure there are inspections of abortion clinics to make sure the women are at least safe.
WHITFIELD: All right.
DAY: Making sure women do get ultrasounds, to make sure there's talk of pregnancy before an abortion.
So I think we need to refocus on supporting women, compassion toward women and providing opportunity for women to carry their children to term in these states with high abortion rates.
WHITFIELD: All right, Kristen Day, we're going to leave it there for now.
Thank you so much.
We have this breaking news in. The U.S. House has just passed the historic bipartisan gun reform bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[13:35:01]
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The vote, the yeas are 234. The nays are 193. The motion is adopted. Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The motion is adopted. (CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, the only thing it needs now is President Biden's signature.
CNN's Jessica Dean is on Capitol Hill.
So, Jessica, 15 Republican Senators supported this bill. Did any Republicans in the House?
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We saw 14 House Republicans, Frederica, supporting this bill.
And unlike the Senate, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was in favor of this legislation, in the House, House leadership was against this legislation, actively whipped votes on that, encouraging House GOP members to vote against it.
Those 14 Republican House members, including Congresswoman Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and others, going against House leadership and supporting Democrats on this historic legislation.
And, Fredricka, we've said it before, but I think it bears repeating, that this is absolutely historic. It has been decades since Congress has done anything on gun safety legislation.
So to see this go through and in this condensed time frame, they were really pushing hard to get this done before the July 4th recess. And that seemed like a pipe dream to a lot of people. But to get this done this quickly is pretty significant.
And again, just touching on some of the things it will do, it'll close the so-called boyfriend loophole where anyone convicted of domestic violence will not be able to get access to a gun.
It also pours money into mental health, billions of dollars into mental health, school safety, community safety, among a number of things, including incentivizing Red Flag laws.
Fredricka, significant legislation passing to the House. It means it now goes to President Biden's desk for signature.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica Dean, on Capitol Hill, thank you so much.
Let's talk further about this. Nia-Malika Henderson with me now.
So what a significant day. We are talking about a day of restrictions, whether it be from the Supreme Court or from Capitol Hill, from Supreme Court restrictions on women's health and overturning of Roe v. Wade, and from Congress now a bipartisan effort to restrict some gun rights.
So put it all into context for us today. NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, I think you're
exactly right. A big, big day, 30 years in the making, in terms of in some ways both of these decisions.
If you think about the Supreme Court and this sort of important battle to overturn abortion rights that has been about a three-decade push by conservatives.
And if you think about what's happening with gun rights, it's been about 30 years since anything has been done around restricting access to guns in this country.
And listen, when you think about guns, this has been -- unfortunately, has come after very horrific shootings that we've seen in this country just over the last couple of weeks.
And so Joe Biden will be one of the first presidents in many, many decades to sign comprehensive legislation around gun rights.
So you've got the closing of the boyfriend loophole, as well as a more focus on mental health as well and incentivizing our Red Flag laws across the country.
But listen, you know, I think we could be entering into a period where there's kind of a rejiggering of American rights.
We see that, of course, with abortion. The Supreme Court rolling back a right that women have had for 50 years. And we'll see what happens with any number of other rights, voting rights for instance.
If you look at what Clarence Thomas said in his opinion, this idea of scrutinizing other rights around things like marriage, same-sex intimacy and just intimacy more broadly, and then around contraception.
So this is a fascinating period that we are entering as a country.
WHITFIELD: Right.
And, Nia, on guns, I think you did frame that in a much more palatable way. It's restrictions on gun access as opposed to gun rights.
All right, thank you so much.
[13:39:09]
All right, next, a closer look at Justice Clarence Thomas' views on the Roe decision and why he thinks the court may need to revisit other high-profile cases from the recent past.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, has overturned Roe v. Wade. But a single line in the opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas is raising concern that reversing the precedent on abortion rights is just the beginning. Thomas argues, I'm quoting now:
"In future cases, we should reconsider all of the court's substantive due-process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is demonstrably erroneous. We have a duty to correct the errors established in those precedents."
CNN senior legal analyst, Laura Coates, is back with us.
[13:44:57]
All right, so, Laura, he's not beating around the bush. Does it mean that cases about same-sex marriage or contraception could be revisited and potentially overturned?
LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, they could be revisited. He's not mincing his words. And frankly, this is something, when people, when they first drafted the opinion back in May, were concerned about.
The idea that inclusion of a line by Justice Alito - this is not to suggest other things like you just named, the right to have contraceptive use in marriage, the right to engage in same-sex sexual activity, the right to be married to a same person of your gender, same-sex marriage.
All these notions is what people thought, I guess, is the reason that Alito wanted to put in there.
Because he would obviously note that if the rationale is based on the fact that, hey, if there's no long-standing national tradition or history or recognition of this as an explicit right in the Constitution, then we can't recognize it here.
Thomas is essentially extending beyond that and saying now we must revisit or we could revisit these things. He does go on, however, to say there would still leave some questions unanswered.
So just as a very basic thing, take a step back here. The question has always been, if it's not explicitly in the Constitution, are there existing rights or amendments that might fit the bill?
Is it the First Amendment or the Fourth -- or the Ninth Amendment or is it the 14th amendment? All different rights talk about some form of freedom or liberty in these issues.
So he's essentially saying, if we're saying it's not going to be covered, are there other things besides due process to the amendment that might cover it?
So there's a little bit of a leeway to suggest there might be other things to cover that particular -- those rights.
But I'm not at all optimistic, given the fact that today the Supreme Court was more than comfortable taking away a right that had 50-years- worth of tradition on the books.
And it's not as if, Fred, abortions in this country are going to stop. But they have cut off an avenue for safe, legal abortion in many states.
WHITFIELD: Is there anything at this juncture -- given that Justice Thomas was rather blunt, right, is there anything the White House could do to further enshrine gay marriage rights, for example, same- sex relations?
Is there anything preemptively it could do just in case Justice Thomas and others follow through with his warning shot?
COATES: Well, civics will always come to pass here. We've got three branches of government, one being legislative. They are but the judiciary, whose job it is to interpret the laws.
If there are laws on the books to codify the things that you don't want to leave up to a court, which is increasingly becoming viewed as a political entity more than the apolitical body that it's supposed to be recognized as being.
Then, yes, codifying why you don't want it to be left up to judicial opinion is going to be important.
But remember, the Senate has a very tough row. And I know, of course, President Biden is a creature of the Senate but he's aware of the thing called a filibuster.
Even among the Democratic caucus, there's not pure unity in all of these aspects of things.
You're going to have to either get 10 more Republicans to join into an entirely unified caucus to try and go against the filibuster or try to make an exception to the filibuster in some way, a carve out.
Much like they did, by the way, to raise the debt ceiling. It has been done but hasn't been done recently. But aside from that, you don't really have all the tools at ones disposal to try to undermine the court.
WHITFIELD: We'll leave it there for now.
Laura Coates, thanks so much.
[13:48:39]
And next, we'll take you back to that location right there, the U.S. Supreme Court, where large crowds are gathering just hours after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:53:42]
WHITFIELD: All right, live pictures right now outside the U.S. Supreme Court on the day that the Supreme Court rendered its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade after 50 years. You can hear the crowd there.
Our Whitney Wild is there in the crowd.
Whitney, what are people telling you?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, we've spoken with people on both sides of this issue. The people who are in support of this opinion are obviously elated.
And now they say that the plan of action -- again, this is for people who are in support of this decision -- is to go state-by-state and try to basically block access to abortion state-by-state. So that's on the pro-life side of this issue.
On the anti- -- on the side who is in support of allowing access for abortion rights, it's obvious disappointment. People were crying.
But now there's a huge crowd out here. So clearly, people feel like there's still an action item out here. They still feel like there's something they can do.
Let me show you the size of the crowd here, which has grown substantially over the last several hours. This crowd was just a couple dozen people when this opinion came out. Now, there are hundreds and hundreds of people.
As you can see, law enforcement is gearing up. There are more officers now than we've seen throughout the day.
The big concern for law enforcement, at this point, based on what you see from the crowd, is not necessarily opposing protests clashing. Because at this point, the people who are in support of this opinion have left.
[13:55:09]
So right now, this is just entirely people who are disillusioned by this decision, who are calling the Supreme Court illegitimate, among other things, people who clearly are protesting to try to preserve some rights to abortion.
Further, the big issue, when you have a crowd like this, for law enforcement, is they're very concerned about a lone actor seeing this as an opportunity to commit acts of violence.
Law enforcement throughout the Washington area has been concerned about people who are utilizing this as an opportunity to carry out acts of domestic violent extremism. That's what they're planning for.
Security throughout the area ramping up. Capitol Police ramping up staffing. MPD ramping up staffing.
And that goes, too, for the jurisdictions where the Supreme Court justices live.
WHITFIELD: OK. WILD: They have put, for example, in one jurisdiction, where Supreme Court justices live, they have put their civil disturbance unit, which is basically their riot cops, on standby.
A lot of concern in Washington that this opinion is going to draw out anger --
WHITFIELD: OK. Well, Whitney --
WILD: -- and the big concern is violence back here at the capitol.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Right now, the focus is going to be right there.
WILD: This attention, this anger, this emotion could turn toward the capitol. That's the other thing Capitol Police is bracing for.
WHITFIELD: All right. The emphasis right now and the focus right there at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Whitney Wild, thank you so much.
That's going to do it for me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
More breaking news after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
