Sen. Warren Slams SCOTUS as ‘An Extremist Court’ That Is ‘Willing to Line Up And Take a Shot at Roe v. Wade,’ Calls for Congress to Act

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) dropped harsh criticism on the Supreme Court in an appearance on The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart, calling the nation’s highest court “extremist,” specifically on the issue of abortion, and said that Congress needed to act to protect Roe v. Wade.

Capehart cued up a video clip of a Democratic Texas legislator criticizing the restrictive abortion law in her state, which creates a private right to sue abortion providers and anyone facilitating an abortion that occurs after a fetal heartbeat is detected, effectively outlawing most abortions. Pro-choice groups have loudly criticized the Supreme Court for allowing the law to take effect while the court challenges proceed.

In the clip, Texas State Rep. Jasmine Crockett slammed the Supreme Court for “acting like [abortion] is an issue that we need to vacillate over,” when Roe v. Wade had been around since before she was born. “That is a problem.”

The Supreme Court “won’t even put the brakes on while they take these arguments on November 1,” said Capehart, asking Warren for her “reaction to what the Court is doing here.”

“Look,” said Warren, the Court has signaled 40 different ways that it is an extremist court, out of step with the American people, and that it’s willing to line up and take a shot at Roe v. Wade.”

“Now whether they’ll get rid of it entirely or just let the states continue to chip at it — come on,” she continued. “They’ve given us every possible signal. But for me, what that means is it’s time for Congress to step up.”

Warren commented that polls showed about 70 percent of Americans supported keeping Roe v. Wade “the law of the land.”

“We don’t need the Supreme Court to do that, the United States Congress could do that,” she said. “When 70 percent of the people support something, by golly, I think we ought to get out there and get that done.”

Abortion was another issue where the filibuster allowed Senate Republicans to block Democrat-supported legislation, noted Warren, and so that was one of the reasons she supported ending the filibuster, so that Congress could take action to protect “abortion rights that have been guaranteed for half a century.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC (the relevant section begins around the 7:45 mark).