The leaking of Justice Samuel Alito’s abortion decision caused leftist journalists and celebrities to erupt in hate-filled attacks on Supreme Court justices and GOP politicians over the last three weeks.
MSNBCer Elie Mystal raged that “Alito’s fundamental legal reasoning” was worthless since it was based on the rationale of the Founding Fathers or as he called them: “racist misogynist jerk faces.” His colleague, MSNBC host Tiffany Cross was offended that the “dimwitted” Alito actually stuck up for the lives of unborn black babies in his decision as she lumped him in with other Pro-Life “terrorists” whose achievements came “through violence.”
On CNN, host Jake Tapper pressed GOP Governor Tate Reeves on how many “women and girls” might “die” from Mississippi’s laws? The intimidation of Supreme Court justices (via protests at their homes) was justified by CNN anchor Laura Jarrett: “A conversation about civility feels like it misses the mark when constitutional rights that you believe that you had for over 50 years are about to be overturned.”
It was an opinion shared by the ladies on ABC’s The View with co-host Joy Behar insisting the protests at their homes “shows Alito what it feels like to lose your freedom of choice. He cannot leave the house easily. So maybe that’s a good lesson for them.”
The Hollywood elite went berserk too. CBS’s The Late Late Show host James Corden called the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade the “biggest rollback of human rights in modern U.S. history.” Comedy Central’s The Daily Show host Trevor Noah compared the conservative justices to the “Taliban” and comedian Laurie Kilmartin tastelessly joked that she’d have sex with the Supreme Court leaker: “If I get pregnant during our lovemaking, I will joyfully abort our fetus and let them know.”
The following are just some the most outrageous outbursts by lefty journalists and celebrities sparked by the leaking of Justice Alito’s abortion decision:
Founders Were “Racist Misogynist Jerk Faces!”
“[Supreme Court Justice Samuel] Alito’s fundamental legal reasoning is that abortion is not a fundamental right because it doesn’t go back to the founding because the Founding Fathers didn’t recognize abortion as a fundamental right and he’s right about that. The Founding Fathers didn’t recognize abortion as a fundamental right because the Founding Fathers were racist misogynist jerk faces who didn’t believe that women had any rights at all!”
— The Nation justice correspondent Elie Mystal on MSNBC’s The ReidOut, May 3.
“Dimwitted” Justice Alito and His Anti-Abortion “Terrorists” Should Shut Up
“Justice Samuel Alito notes that some amicus briefs have argued that supporters of abortion rights really just want to suppress the size of the African-American population….Right. So, the man who helped gut voting rights, and uphold the jurisprudence of white racial innocence is now suddenly moved to protect black life. And of course he offers no context here, because while brevity may be the soul of wit, it is also clearly the soul of the dim-witted….You heard [Executive director of SHERO of Mississippi] Michelle [Colon] refer to the anti-abortionists as terrorists. And she has a point. Because the people who call themselves quote-unquote pro-life, they achieved this through violence….My big point is, if you don’t have a uterus, please shut the entire you-know-what up. It really doesn’t concern you.”
— Host Tiffany Cross on MSNBC’s The Cross Connection, May 7.
How Many Girls “Might Die” Because Of Your Law, Governor?
“Mississippi, according to your state department of health, has about 3,500 abortions a year. Has the state done any analysis of what the state thinks will happen to those women and girls if the law goes into effect? How many unwanted pregnancies will result in deliveries? How many will result in women and girls dying because they seek out unsafe methods?...How many might die? How many might end up hurt, mutilated, whatever?...You say you want to do more to support mothers, and children….Based on the track record of the state of Mississippi, why should any of these girls or moms believe you?”
— Host Jake Tapper to Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves on CNN’s State of the Union, May 8.
Screw “Civility” at Supreme Court Justice’s Homes
Host John Avlon: “The real questions and conversations today about protests outside Supreme Court Justices houses, particularly Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh. Where do you think that line is?”
CNN’s Early Start anchor Laura Jarrett: “I think for a lot of people, a conversation about civility feels like it misses the mark when constitutional rights that you believe that you had for over 50 years are about to be overturned.”
— CNN New Day, May 9.
Why Is The 2nd Amendment “Sacrosanct” But Not Roe?
Host Don Lemon: “Max, why then for conservatives is the Second Amendment sacrosanct but this one is not, the Roe v. Wade is not?”
Max Boot, Washington Post columnist: “Well, that’s a good question, Don, I think you’re moving into a situation where the current very conservative majority on the court is going to tell states that they can essentially outlaw abortion but they cannot do anything about people packing guns in the streets. I mean It’s a bizarre situation. It really doesn't make a lot of logical sense.”
— CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight, May 4.
Decision Is “Illegitimate” Because of “Minority Government”
“Included in this fundamentally different world, is the other part of what we’re experiencing tonight, it is minority government, minority-ruled government, and the Supreme Court is the most incredible exemplar of that. You have these judges, appointed to the Supreme Court by two presidents, who did not win the most votes in that presidential election. George W. Bush, appointed the justice who wrote this opinion, he did not win the most votes in his presidential election, but he won the Electoral College. And then you have Donald Trump, appointing three of these deciding justices. He did not come close to winning the most votes, but he got the presidency in this country because of this capacity for minority rule in our government.”
— MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on The Last Word, May 2.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski: “The final opinion is expected in late June or early July. Joe, so many different moving parts here, but, overall, what does this story mean for the Supreme Court?
Co-host Joe Scarborough: “Well, I mean, for the Supreme Court, in a word, illegitimacy. You know, the Court’s always been guided by the law, but it’s also been keenly aware that it is the only unelected branch of American government. They needed to not appear to be openly contemptuous of public opinion….The perception for 70 percent of Americans waking up this morning, is, is going to be, most likely, that this is an illegitimate decision by an illegitimate court.”
— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, May 3.
Badgering Businesses to Be Woke on Abortion
“NEW: [Shannon Liao] and I reached out to over 20 major video game companies about whether they intend to speak up in favor of reproductive rights or provide monetary aid to employees. just a few said yes. most said nothing at all.”
— May 11 tweet by Washington Post writer Nathan Grayson promoting article “As Roe v. Wade Looms, Video Game Industry Stays Mostly Silent”
Women Will Be “First Casualty” From “Christian Nationalist Majority on the Supreme Court”
“We’re all about to lose so many rights; so fast, most people won’t know what hit them, until it’s too late. Fascism isn’t a game, y’all. It’s real. And it’s in America, sometimes dressed as a kooky personality cult or carrying a confederate flag…and not enough people are fighting it. And the first casualty will be women, who are about to find out what ‘big government’ really looks like, thanks to the Christian nationalist majority on the Supreme Court and the Republicans who are licking their chops at taking over the House and especially the Senate.”
— May 10 tweet thread by MSNBC host Joy Reid.
Is Brown V. Board of Education Next?
“If they [conservative Supreme Court justices] care so little about precedent and overruling precedent, what about Brown v. Board of Education? What about other major civil rights rulings of the 60s?”
— Host Andrea Mitchell to former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, May 11.
“Fascism” Coming “Down the Line”
“I worry is that this is just the beginning, next they’ll go after gay marriage and maybe the board — what is it? Brown vs. Board of Education. They already eroded our voting rights a little bit. So, I see fascism down the line here.”
— Co-host Joy Behar on ABC’s The View, May 3.
Justifying Intimidation of Justices
Former Trump White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin: “I think the more appropriate venue [for protest] is the steps of the Supreme Court. I worry it could begin to look like intimidation when it’s at someone’s doorstep.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg: “It’s so funny. So does what [Supreme Court Justice Samuel] Alito wrote. Looks the same way to me. It looks like intimidation. And yeah, it’s kind of the same thing.”
Co-host Joy Behar: “But it also shows Alito what it feels like to lose your freedom of choice. He cannot leave the house easily. So maybe that’s a good lesson for them.”
— ABC’s The View, May 10.
Alito Wants to Take Us Back to the Days of Witch Trials!
“The Alito opinion purports to be based on America’s Constitution. But it relies on English jurisprudence from the 17th century, a time when a belief in witchcraft caused the death of many innocent people. The Salem witchcraft trials were trials — they had judges and juries — but they accepted ‘spectral evidence,’ in the belief that a witch could send her double, or specter, out into the world to do mischief. Thus, if you were sound asleep in bed, with many witnesses, but someone reported you supposedly doing sinister things to a cow several miles away, you were guilty of witchcraft. You had no way of proving otherwise. Similarly, it will be very difficult to disprove a false accusation of abortion. The mere fact of a miscarriage, or a claim by a disgruntled former partner, will easily brand you a murderer. Revenge and spite charges will proliferate, as did arraignments for witchcraft 500 years ago. If Justice Alito wants you to be governed by the laws of the 17th century, you should take a close look at that century. Is that when you want to live?”
— The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood in May 13 The Atlantic article “I Invented Gilead. The Supreme Court Is Making It Real.”
Comedian Cracks Up MSNBCers with Her Abortion Jokes
“Here’s my feeling about the leaker. I would like to find out who the leaker is, so I could make sweet love to that person, because that person is a hero to me. Okay? If the leaker — a lot of people are saying it could be a conservative — if the leaker is a Republican, and if I get pregnant during our lovemaking, I will joyfully abort our fetus and let them know.”
— Comedian Laurie Kilmartin on MSNBC’s Ayman, May 8.
“Biggest Rollback of Human Rights” In History, Like the “Taliban”
“Make no mistake, this is the biggest rollback of human rights in modern U.S. history and we know what a reversal of reproductive rights looks like because your parents and grandparents, they lived it already….I hope so much that the people who make the decisions in this country will think long and hard before they let this devastating overthrow of human rights stand.”
— Host James Corden on CBS’s The Late Late Show, May 4.
“If the Court’s decision is released officially, abortion will be illegal in about half the states in America….That means all across the country, women in places like South Dakota, or Missouri, or even Texas, will have the exact same abortion rights as women in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Just think about that. We just evacuated people out of Afghanistan, and now we’re going to have to evacuate them out of Tennessee?...After all these years of the right screaming about the threat of Sharia Law. It turns out they were just jealous.””
— Host Trevor Noah on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, May 3.
Republicans Defiled the Constitution and Stole Supreme Court Seats to Get Here
“We never get this sort of inside look at the private machinations of the Court, it’s a secretive institution of unaccountable lifetime appointees they don’t want you to know what they’re up to behind the scenes, especially in a case like this….And you know what? Maybe the institution deserves to be shattered a little bit. You could argue it was already shattered a long time ago by cynical Republicans who spent decades turning it into a political weapon by defiling the Constitution, stealing Supreme Court seats, and forcing their nominees onto the bench through the exercise of raw power.”
— Host Seth Meyers on NBC’s Late Night, May 5.
Curse Those “Mean-Spirited and Dangerous” Republicans
“A core value of the Republican Party I thought was small government, less, you know, freedom of speech, freedom of free trade, all that freedom. But when it comes to the most private area of a woman’s life and decision-making, government wants to ban it. I mean, it’s not the Republican way. And then once the woman has a baby because of the ban, then what do they do with the children? Total irresponsibility….Education budget is cut. Child care is cut. I mean, it is the most irrational and un-Republican act….Mean-spirited and dangerous.”
— Actor George Takei on ABC’s The View, May 13.
Midler V. Supreme Court Conservatives
“Presenting #JusticeSamAlito in the role of the Grand Inquisitor! Reviews are in, and he is dead-on in the role! The #SpanishInquisition has returned to a state near you!”
— May 7 tweet by actress/singer Bette Midler
“Next time the National Anthem is played, every woman and girl should take a knee.”
— May 8 tweet by actress/singer Bette Midler.
Democracy “On the Brink”
“I can’t watch this shit happen and not say something. We’re teetering on the brink of not being a full democracy. We’re about to implement The Handmaid’s Tale into law....It feels hard to enact change right now. I do believe human beings generally want to do the right thing but the conservative movement is not interested in concessions or compromise. They’re interested in full power and full authoritarianism.”
— Musician John Legend in The Guardian May 16 interview.
