Thursday, in reaction to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) telling Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch they will “pay the price” if they vote against pro-choice advocates in an abortion case, CNN senior network political analyst John Avlon slammed the Senate minority leader, saying his remarks “crossed the line.”
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” Schumer declared from outside of the Supreme Court during a rally on Wednesday.
Avlon said on “New Day” that the comments “sounded to many like a threat.”
“Well, that whirlwind hit him first,” Avlon stated. “There’s no question Schumer’s comments crossed the line. With lifetime appointments, judges can’t pay the price in political terms, and ‘you won’t know what hit you’ sounded to many like a threat. It certainly did to Chief Justice John Roberts, who issued a rare rebuke to a sitting member of Congress.”
Schumer was criticized by both Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and President Donald Trump for his “dangerous” and “threatening statements.”
Roberts stated, “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”
Upon reading Roberts’ statement, Avlon concluded his “Reality Check” by saying, “Hear, hear.”
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