Connect with us

Congress

Democratic leaders urged to restrict Supreme Court jurisdiction over marriage, abortion

Roe v. Wade overturned last month

Published

on

Outside the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, after it overturned Roe v. Wade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

In a letter to Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, 10 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked for support in establishing and protecting nationwide privacy rights that include abortion and marriage equality. 

The letter, addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), calls on party leaders to support a push to restrict the U.S. Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over matters and decisions regarding certain privacy-related rights.

“We write to urge your support for restricting the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction in the areas of abortion, marriage equality, non-procreative intimacy and contraception,” the members of Congress wrote. “In doing so, we can ensure that, as Congress takes legislative action to codify each of these fundamental rights, a radical, restless and newly constituted majority on the court cannot further undermine the protections we would enact.”

Although Congress cannot remove the Supreme Court from cases falling under its original jurisdiction, Article III of the Constitution does grant Congress the power to strip the court’s jurisdiction in appellate cases. 

Appellate jurisdiction pertains to a court hearing, reversing or amending a lower court’s previous decision on a case.

The signatories of the letter to Democratic leadership pointed to instances in which the Supreme Court itself has reaffirmed such congressional power in the past.

“Most recently, in Patchak v. Zinke (2018), Justice Thomas held for the court that, ‘When Congress strips federal courts of jurisdiction, it exercises a valid legislative power no less than when it lays taxes, coins money, declares war, or invokes any other power that the Constitution grants it,” they wrote. “‘Indeed, this court has held that Congress generally does not violate Article III when it strips federal jurisdiction over a class of cases.’”

The letter comes amid a new era of heightened tension between the Supreme Court and a number of members of Congress who have accused it of threatening the rights of certain groups of Americans after ruling on several controversial cases heard during its latest term.

In relaying what they feel to be the urgency of enacting such restrictions, the letter’s signatories pointed to the Supreme Court’s decision last month in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that ended the nationwide right to abortion. More privacy-related rights, they say, are now under threat.

“As a result of the Supreme Court’s actions, millions of people will no longer have access to abortion care, a crisis disproportionately impacting women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, and the undocumented,” the signatories wrote. “Moreover, Justice Thomas’ concurrence in Dobbs laid out a clear plan for the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), Lawrence v. Texas (2003), and Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) in the near future, placing the rights to marriage equality, non-procreative intimacy and contraception in jeopardy.”

The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Kaiali’i Kahele (D-Hawaii).

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Congress

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to leave Congress

California congressman to resign at the end of this month

Published

on

Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signs the short-term stop-gap funding bill on Sept. 30, 2023 to keep government open that ultimately led to his ouster as Speaker. (Photo Credit: Official Photo by the U.S. House of Representatives)

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was dethroned from the speakership by ultraconservative members of his party in October, announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Wednesday that he will resign from Congress at the end of this month.

The congressman pledged to “serve America in new ways,” writing “I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office,” adding, “The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation of leaders.”

The move puts additional pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who was elected following McCarthy’s ouster and who is now charged with leading a fractious GOP conference that was already operating with a razor-slim majority.

Now, House Republicans might have only three votes to spare before they must seek help from Democrats to pass measures.

Far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a McCarthy ally who has repeatedly criticized her colleagues for toppling his speakership and, last week, for voting to expel disgraced former GOP congressman George Santos, posted about Wednesday’s news on X.

Meanwhile U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the Republican firebrand congressman who filed the motion to take the speaker’s gavel from McCarthy, posted one word minutes after the news broke: “McLeavin.'”

McCarthy has served in the House since 2007.

Continue Reading

Congress

Santos expelled from Congress

Gay Republican indicted on 23 federal charges

Published

on

U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 30, 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Christopher Kane)

Lawmakers on Friday voted 311-114 to expel embattled U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress, exceeding the two-thirds majority needed for the resolution to pass with two members voting present.

The third vote to expel the congressman comes after a 56-page report by the U.S. House Ethics Committee found Santos had siphoned campaign contributions to shop at luxury retailers like Hermes and for purchases at OnlyFans, a site used primarily by sex workers who produce pornography.

During the previous votes to expel Santos, critical numbers of members from both parties voted “nay” for fear that it would set a dangerous precedent in the absence of a guilty verdict from a court of law or the committee.

Members who debated the expulsion resolution on the House floor Friday mentioned the many scandals that have enveloped Santos from the time he began serving in January, such as the revelations that he had lied on the campaign trail about having Jewish heritage, ties to the Holocaust, and a parent who was at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

“George Santos is a liar — in fact, he has admitted to many of them — who has used his position of public trust to personally benefit himself from Day 1,” said U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, another Republican from New York.

The number and nature of those lies, along with the allegations of financial malfeasance, made Santos a pariah, as well as a liability for Republicans in vulnerable districts, particularly in neighboring parts of New York.

Politico congressional reporter Olivia Beavers posted a photo on X of members talking to news cameras, captioned “NY Rs taking a victory lap.”

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will now schedule a special election to replace Santos, with her party privately lining up behind Thomas Suozzi, who held the seat from 2017 to 2023 and who last year defended Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, calling the measure prohibiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity “reasonable” and “common sense.”

Separately, Santos is facing a 23-count indictment for alleged financial crimes that was brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

He walked out of the chamber before Friday’s vote was finalized, stepping into a waiting car as he told reporters “Why would I want to stay here?” and “To hell with this place.”

Continue Reading

Congress

Santos won’t seek reelection after House Ethics report

Federal authorities have indicted embattled gay N.Y. Republican

Published

on

U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) (Photo courtesy of Santos' Facebook page)

Following the publication of a report by the U.S. House Ethics Committee, which found he had misused campaign funds for luxury personal purchases and OnlyFans content, U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) announced on Thursday that he will not seek reelection next year.

The Investigative Subcommittee found “substantial evidence” that the embattled congressman “caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House,” according to a statement released by its chair, U.S. Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and ranking member, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.).

The report reveals contributions from two supporters totaling $50,000 were wired to RedStone, a company owned and operated by Santos, and then transferred to his personal bank account and “used to, among other things: pay down personal credit card bills and other debt; make a $4,127.80 purchase at Hermes; and for smaller purchases at OnlyFans; Sephora; and for meals and for parking.”

Pursuant to issuance of the report, the Ethics Committee voted unanimously to “refer the substantial evidence of potential violations of federal criminal law to the Department of Justice for such further action as it deems appropriate.”

Santos responded with a post on X decrying the report as a “disgusting politicized smear.” The congressman added, “I will however NOT be seeking re-election for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.”

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Guest has plans to introduce a motion to dismiss Santos from Congress on Friday morning, which could be considered by the House upon return from the Thanksgiving holiday break on Nov. 28.

Efforts to expel him earlier this month failed when a group of Republican and Democratic members voted against the resolution, many claiming the move — in the absence of a criminal conviction in a court of law and before the committee had released findings from its report — would set a dangerous precedent.

In October, Santos was handed a 23-count superseding indictment from prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which contains a range of criminal charges from wrongful unemployment benefits claims to identity theft.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular