GOP Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy shut down CNN town hall host Abby Phillip’s framing on the question of the U.S. Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari regarding abortion drug Mifepristone.
Watch as Ramaswamy moves Phillip’s question off of its abortion frame, and on to the issue of a runaway administrative state- as aired on CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall with Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday, December 13th, 2023 (click “expand” for transcript):
ABBY PHILLIP: Let me ask you about a little bit of news. The Supreme Court announced that it would hear a case this term that could potentially restrict access nationwide to a widely used abortion drug called Mifepristone. You oppose abortion, but: do you believe that the court should limit the distribution of this drug nationwide?
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: So I think this is a question -- it's the job of the Supreme Court- who would’ve ever thought- to judge the law. This is a case about administrative law, actually. This is less about the abortion question and it's more about, did the FDA exceed the scope of its statutory authority when it approved Mifepristone on an emergency basis? And these emergency approvals are generally reserved for life saving therapies that need to be brought to market quickly. So this is a symptom, Abby, of what's going on in the administrative state. The people who we elect to run the government, they’re not even the ones who actually run the government right now. It's the bureaucrats in those three-letter agencies that are pulling the strings today. So the most important Supreme Court case of our lifetime- and I want people to understand this- came out last term. It's West Virginia versus EPA. That said, if Congress did not expressly give an agency the right to write a regulation, then that's unconstitutional. And so it is my opinion -- it’s the Supreme Court’s that’ll matter but I'm pretty sure the Supreme Court will come down where I am on this. That the FDA exceeded its statutory authority in using an emergency approval to approve something that doesn't fit Congress’ criteria for what actually counts as an emergency approval. So, yes, I hope they follow the law. I hope that's where they come down. And if the people of this country disagree with that, we have a mechanism for that. It’s called the democratic process. Do it through the front door of Congress.
(APPLAUSE)
And there's one thing I’m going to do as the next president: it’s to shut down that fourth branch of government, rescind those unconstitutional federal regulations that Congress never actually passed. And yes, lay off 75% of the federal employee headcount. That’s the answer.
PHILLIP: I want to get to our question, but just before we do that, just so that everyone is clear, you do believe that the Supreme Court should ban mifepristone?
RAMASWAMY: I believe that the Supreme Court should put the FDA back in its place. That’s- that’s the…
PHILIP: As it relates to…
RAMASWAMY: …question that’s before the Court.
PHILLIP: But as it relates to this question --
RAMASWAMY: So I believe they should rule on the law.
PHILLIP: As it relates to this particular drug…
RAMASWAMY: And as it relates to this particular drug…
PHILLIP: Do you believe that will ultimately result in Mifepristone being banned nationwide? And that’s the correct ruling?
RAMASWAMY: I believe it will result in Mifepristone being taken off the market until they go through the process that’s ordained for every other drug that doesn’t go through emergency approval.
PHILLIP: Okay.
RAMASWAMY: The FDA should follow the law if the rest of us do, too. It’s a simple thing to ask.
Phillip tried to set the question up as a “restriction to access to abortion” question, and had Ramaswamy stayed on that frame, they would have remained there and gone into a discussion of when and under what conditions is it appropriate to grant access to the drug.
But Ramaswamy spots this and moves off abortion and into administrative law. Ramaswamy brought up West Virginia v. EPA, the runaway regulatory agencies, and it’s a miracle he didn’t bring up the current challenge to Chevron, which will be heard in this term.
By the time Phillip realizes what has happened, it is too late. It takes her five passes before Ramaswamy provides a direct answer as to Mifepristone, and then only to say that he hopes it is banned as a result of a ruling before Congress takes it up.
FIVE passes on abortion.
This is why the media are no longer taken seriously.
