Garland Bristles at Reporter Who Says DoJ ‘Is Going Around’ Supreme Court on Abortion

Attorney General Merrick Garland bristled at a reporter who asked, “What’s the point of the Supreme Court if DOJ is going to go around” it on the abortion issue?

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade — President Joe Biden signed executive orders to protect abortion rights that resulted in the Department of Health and Human Services issuing guidance on abortions and emergency care.

Garland took questions at a press conference on reproductive rights Tuesday afternoon to announce their lawsuit against an Idaho abortion law that runs afoul of that executive order, as well as a federal law — the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act — that is the basis for the HHS guidance.

The attorney general took exception to a reporter who accused the DoJ of “going around” the court with this and other actions:

REPORTER: You have enormous respect for the Supreme Court. What’s the point of the Supreme Court if DOJ is going to go around and do these kinds of things? Will there be other states like this, you think?

AG GARLAND: I’m not sure what you mean by what’s the point of the Supreme Court? Well, I mean, I could give you a long discussion on the point of the Supreme Court–

REPORTER: But but if DOJ is going to go around the Supreme Court and do–

AG GARLAND: This is not in any way going around the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court said that each state can make its own decisions with respect to abortion, but so too can the federal government. Nothing that the Supreme Court said, said that the statutes passed by Congress, such as EMTALA, are in any way invalid. It’s quite the opposite. Supreme Court left it to the people’s representatives. EMTALA is a decision made by the Congress of the United States. The Supremacy Clause is a decision made in the Constitution of the United States. Federal law invalidates state laws that are in direct contradiction. This has really nothing to do with anything that the Supreme Court said, and certainly nothing to do with going around the Supreme Court.

Watch above via NBC News.