Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggested over the weekend that there are no checks on the U.S. Supreme Court and that there was nothing balancing out their power, despite the fact that those things exist.
The executive branch nominates justices to the Court and Congress has to approve those Justices and can even impeach them if necessary.
AOC made the remarks during a CNN interview on Sunday with host Dana Bash when asked about President Joe Biden saying last week that he opposes expanding the Court because “if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy.”
AOC said that she “truly” believes justices should have their power limited, even though no federal official has unlimited power.
“The courts, if they were to proceed without any check on their power, without any balance on their power, then we will start to see an undemocratic and, frankly, dangerous authoritarian expansion of power in the Supreme Court, which is what we are seeing now, from the overturning of abortion rights, to the ruling that discrimination and, frankly, stripping the full personhood and dignity of LGBTQ people in the United States,” she claimed.
“These are the types of rulings that signal a dangerous creep towards authoritarianism and centralization of power in the court,” she claimed. “In fact, we have members of the court themselves, with Justice Elena Kagan, saying that the court is beginning to assume the power of a legislature.”
WATCH:
AOC: "The courts, if they were to proceed without any check on their power, without any balance on their power, then we will start to see an undemocratic and frankly dangerous authoritarian expansion of power in the Supreme Court, which is what we are seeing now." pic.twitter.com/pndYqziZHk
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 2, 2023
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
DANA BASH: Congresswoman, you have called on President Biden to expand the Supreme Court to 13 justices.
But even after Roe was overruled last year and this past week, what we saw with affirmative action and other cases, I want you to listen to what President Biden said. He just said this on Thursday on MSNBC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I think, if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy.
NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST: That you can’t get back?
BIDEN: That I can’t get back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: I’d like you to respond to that.
And, also, you mentioned a moment ago judicial review. Are you also saying that the justices’ power should somehow be limited?
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: I truly do. And this is not a new development in history. This is part of our system of checks and balances.
The courts, if they were to proceed without any check on their power, without any balance on their power, then we will start to see an undemocratic and, frankly, dangerous authoritarian expansion of power in the Supreme Court, which is what we are seeing now, from the overturning of abortion rights, to the ruling that discrimination and, frankly, stripping the full personhood and dignity of LGBTQ people in the United States.
This is — these are the types of rulings that signal a dangerous creep towards authoritarianism and centralization of power in the court. In fact, we have members of the court themselves, with Justice Elena Kagan, saying that the court is beginning to assume the power of a legislature.
BASH: Congresswoman…
OCASIO-CORTEZ: And, right now, whether it is expansion of the court…
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