Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said definitively Thursday that she has no confidence in the Supreme Court amid its dismal approval ratings, ethics controversies, and weighty forthcoming opinions.
On the two-year anniversary of the court overturning Roe v. Wade, the former Speaker of the House told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Republicans’ restrictions on abortion will continue to be a key factor in the upcoming election, as was the case in the 2022 midterms. Cooper then asked how Pelosi felt about the court’s current docket.
“Do you have confidence in the Supreme Court?” the AC360 anchor asked, noting the court’s still pending decision regarding Trump’s monarch-like claims of immunity from prosecution, the controversy over the Jan. 6-linked flags at the homes of Justice Samuel Alito, and lingering ethical questions about Alito’s and Justice Clarence Thomas’ lavish travel and gifts.
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“No, I think they’ve gone rogue. It’s most unfortunate,” Pelosi replied, before criticizing Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the 6-3 majority in June 2022 to roll back abortion rights. What happened to the chief justice? Did he go weak or did he go rogue? I don‘t know.”
Pelosi then offered the same opinion about some Republican members of Congress, alluding to their votes objecting to the Electoral College results even after the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
“No, I don’t have confidence in the Supreme Court,” she circled back. “See, I respect their point of view. If they have a point of view about a woman’s right to choose, OK. But that’s not what they’re there to do—to advocate for a point of view. Run for Congress. They’re there to uphold the Constitution of the United States.”
“And many of them said in their hearings for confirmation, they said that they supported the precedents of the court… [and] supported the privacy in the Constitution,” Pelosi continued. “And what do they do? They vote their opinion on policy rather than the oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States.”
The public’s approval level of the Supreme Court—41 percent, as of last September—is just a hair above its record low of 40 percent. That mark occurred in 2021 when the court declined to prevent a Texas law prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat could be detected from taking effect.
