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A few hours after the Supreme Court’s decision to end 50 years of abortion rights, President Biden set out his ideal answer: to choose more Democrats. “This fall, Roe is on the ballot,” Biden told the White House. “Personal freedoms are in the vote. The right to privacy, freedom, equality, everyone is in the vote.”
Not far away, House Democrats gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to sing a heartfelt rendition of “God Bless America” to celebrate the passage of a modest bill on the control of weapons, a moment that felt deaf to many Democrats given the judiciary. bomb that had just landed.
For an increasingly vocal group of frustrated Democrats, activists and even members of Congress, these responses from party leaders have been surprisingly inadequate to deal with a time of crisis. They criticize the idea of voters running in November when they say Democrats are unwilling to push the boundaries and turn the system upside down in defense of hard-won civil liberties.
“We have Democrats doing the opposite, you know? They’re just not fighting,” said Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) “When people see it, what will make them come to vote? We can’t tell people: “Well, vote, vote for your problems.” Because they’re looking at us and saying, ‘Well, we’ve already voted for you.’ “
Progressive lawmakers, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), have outlined several actions they want Democrats to take: build abortion clinics on federal land. Funding people to seek out-of-state abortions. Limit the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court or extend its jurisdiction. Ending the filibuster.
“We can do it!” Ocasio-Cortez recently tweeted after listing some of these measures. “At least we can TRY.”
Biden faces a bomb that could define his presidency
Warren asked Biden to declare a national medical emergency and said the administration could establish Planned Parenthood outposts on the edge of national parks. “The issue is the recognition of the emergency situation and the urgency of receiving help,” he said in an interview. “People need help right away.”
Biden and his team have expressed displeasure with many of these ideas, especially with any far-reaching review by the Supreme Court. When reporters recently asked him if he believes the Supreme Court is “broken,” Biden said only, “I think the Supreme Court has made terrible decisions.”
A senior White House official said Biden is simply being honest with the public about what he can do unilaterally, adding that the president is “taking important actions under executive authority while struggling with this very tough extreme decision, but being clear and honest that only Congress “. can fix the situation “.
White House officials point out that the administration has moved to protect access to the so-called abortion pill even in states trying to ban it, and that the president is committed to protecting women who they want to travel across state borders to have an abortion.
The official said that while the proposal to establish abortion clinics in federal lands was “well-intentioned,” it could put pregnant women and providers at risk, and that in states where abortion is illegal , women and providers who are not federal employees could be prosecuted. Some legal experts have also raised questions about whether this proposal would remain in court, and White House officials fear it will violate the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds for abortion, unless life of a pregnant person is in danger or if the pregnancy is the result of a rape or incest.
Some activists acknowledge that Biden’s ability to act is limited. Only Congress can codify abortion rights nationwide, and the Senate, where the filibuster requires 60 votes to pass almost all legislation, is split 50-50 between the parties.
But many abortion advocates say Republicans have routinely violated the rules in recent years and have benefited greatly from this, for example, by blocking President Barack Obama’s selection from the Supreme Court, and for Democrats to continue to observe weaknesses amounts to unilateral disarmament.
A Supreme Court impatient for change
“We are facing a side that is undermining the very essence of what it means to be a country rooted in this philosophy of equal protection before the law. You can’t fight that if the people on the other side always “It’s moderating, modulating and engaging. It’s not the age we’re at,” said the Rev. William Barber, a North Carolina preacher who is co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.
“You fight a crisis until it’s over,” Barber added. “You can’t outdo yourself when you’re at the bottom, and these people have taken us to the bottom.”
If Biden pursued aggressive executive action to expand access to abortion, even if those moves were eventually overturned by a court, it would energize supporters and signal to voters that Democrats are fighting, advocates said. .
Kurt Bardella, a former Republican who now consults Democrats, said party leaders cannot be afraid of bold actions because of possible legal challenges.
“Democrats start with the question, ‘Are we allowed to do this or not?’ And I think Democratic voters will forgive you if you try and then it turns out a court overturns it, ”Bardella said. “But at least you’ve tried to keep things in place in the meantime and move on to the next election. What they won’t forgive is if you keep asking them to keep you in power but you don’t do anything about it, or at least you try to do it. there is something “.
Divisions over how to respond to the Supreme Court ruling revealed fractures between the Democratic Party that are often found in known generational, ideological, and strategic lines of failure.
At one end is Biden, who has long been tied to the traditions and institutions of the federal government. He has shown reluctance to dismantle the Senate obstruction, even when it comes to such basic issues for his party as voting rights. Biden has said he believes increasing the total number of Supreme Court judges, while tempting a ruling party, is ultimately dangerous and could lead to the erosion of other rules when Republicans regain control of Washington.
But a growing number of Liberals say that unless Democratic leaders show a willingness to adopt more creative ways to push their agenda, their most loyal voters will have little reason to run in the midterm congressional election.
“It’s very important right now to show that they are fighting for the people, so people have a reason to go and vote for them in November. The goodwill of the voters will not last that long, it has lasted for years,” said Nelini Stamp, director of strategy and associations of the Workers’ Families Party, a prominent left-wing group. “People don’t want to hear, ‘Vote Democrats.’ They want to hear what people will do. We want Biden to use all the power of his administration, even if he can get rejected by the court. We want to see people fighting for us.” .
Bush said he remembers the “punch” he felt when he heard about the Supreme Court ruling. Activist before being elected to Congress during protests over the assassination of George Floyd in 2020 at the hands of police, Bush said she immediately began considering what actions needed to be taken.
He had already sent Biden a letter last week before the ruling, along with 19 other black congressmen, urging the president to “use all executive authorities to address the public health crisis our nation will face. Yes Roe against Wade it is dismantled ”. She said she and her progressive colleagues will continue to pressure House leaders to vote on a myriad of bills that protect abortion rights, to support her election message that Democrats are the party that meets .
Some Democrats point out that any such bill would die immediately in the Senate. But others say it is crucial to show voters what the party would do if it had even slightly larger majorities.
In a letter to her colleagues on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Outlined specific legislation that leaders are considering in the coming months. They include protecting women from criminal prosecution if they travel out of state to request an abortion and protecting women’s personal data stored in reproductive health applications, in case state lawmakers try to access that information to determine if a woman has aborted.
Pelosi kept the door open for more provisions when lawmakers returned to Washington in July, but put the Senate’s responsibility to eliminate obstructionism and pass legislation that codified it. Roe vs. Wade, which the House passed last year. Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have been the most resilient Democrats to remove the obstruction, and some Democrats say the election of additional senators from states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin could establish a majority that would enact this movement.
More than 30 Senate Democrats signed a letter headed by Warren and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) To Biden calling for “bold action,” adding “You have the power to fight and lead a national response to this decision.” devastating. ”
Some activists said the exhortation of Democratic leaders to vote for them to save abortion rights echoes the return that activists heard about police reform following Floyd’s assassination and the protection of voting rights, two major initiatives that have fallen short despite the narrow Democratic majorities in Washington.
“It’s very similar to what happened in 2020: ‘Back to the polls.’ … It always comes back to “Now you, the individual, do something,” said Paris Hatcher, executive director of Black Feminist Future. “But we have chosen these people who are in charge …