‘That Is a Stunning Position!’ CNN’s Dana Bash Confronts AOC on Telling Biden To ‘Ignore’ Abortion Pill Ruling
CNN anchor Dana Bash confronted Democratic New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez for saying the Biden administration should “ignore” a federal court decision on the abortion pill.
Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. Northern District of Texas ruled Friday to suspend FDA approval of mifepristone, a drug used to perform medication abortions, effective one week hence in order to allow time for an appeal. The ruling has generated blistering criticism and backlash.
On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, told anchor Anderson Cooper “I believe that the Biden administration should ignore this ruling.”
On Sunday morning’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union,
DANA BASH: You called on the Biden administration to do, which is just to simply ignore the court ruling. That’s a pretty stunning position! If you think about it, in the in the abstract about the notion of just ignoring a judge’s position. So my question is, when this case is resolved by the Supreme Court, should the administration follow that decision, if that decision ends up banning this abortion drug?
REP. OCASIO CORTEZ: Well, you know, I want to take a step back and dig into the grounds around ignoring this preliminary ruling as well.
There is an extraordinary amount of precedent for this. There is a term known as agency non acquiescence, and this was ben used. And for folks saying this is a first, that this is precedent setting. It is not. The Trump administration also did this very thing, but also it has happened before. The idea of consistency in governance until there is a higher court ruling is not an unprecedented thing to happen. In fact, when the Trump administration did it, it was arguably through a much, you know, a very grave issue when it came to DACA. The Trump administration was ordered to fully reinstate DACA, the DACA program. And they in in in a complete defiance, did not do that. They rely on the courts, rely on the legitimacy of their rulings. And when they make a mockery of our system, a mockery of our democracy and a mockery of our law as the as what we just saw happen in this mifepristone ruling, then I believe that that the executive branch and we know that the executive branch has an enforcement discretion, especially in light of a contradicting ruling coming out of Washington.
DANA BASH: Should that apply if the Supreme Court upheld upholds the Texas judge’s decision?
REP. OCASIO CORTEZ: You know, I think one of the things that I think one of the things that we need to examine is the the grounds of that ruling. But I do not believe that the courts have the authority to to have the authority over the FDA that they just asserted. And I do believe that it creates a crisis.
Watch above via CNN’s State of the Union.
