FLASHBACK: AOC Urged Biden to ‘Ignore’ Unfavorable Court Decisions
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) argued that the Biden administration should simply ignore a judicial decision she dissented from during an appearance on CNN in 2023.
Vice President JD Vance’s comments about the role of the judiciary have been the subject of much consternation from Democrats in recent days. In reference to a series of court decisions blocking the Trump administration’s, Vance mused on social media that “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal.”
“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” he added.
While Vance was not explicit about what he meant, many critics took his post as an argument for ignoring unfavorable rulings.
“If you believe any of the multiple federal courts that have ruled against you so far are exceeding their statutory or constitutional authority, your recourse is to appeal,” declared former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney in a rebuke of Vance. “You don’t get to rage-quit the Republic just because you are losing. That’s tyranny.”
The Trump administration has since clarified its position that it intends to comply with judicial rulings while appealing those it disagrees with.
Back in 2023, however, Ocasio-Cortez was explicit in her advocacy for what Cheney characterized as “tyranny.”
After a district court judge suspended the approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that then-President Joe Biden should simply disregard the ruling.
“Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has already issued statements, for example, advising what we should do in a situation like this, which I concur, which is that I believe that the Biden administration should ignore this ruling,” said Ocasio-Cortez at the time. “I think that we, the courts have the legitimacy, and they rely on the legitimacy of their rulings. And what they are currently doing is engaged in an unprecedented and dramatic erosion of the legitimacy of the courts. They, it is the justices themselves, through the deeply partisan and unfounded nature of these rulings, that are undermining their own enforcement.”
“So what you’re saying the Biden administration should ignore this court, but what does that look like? What does that actually mean?” asked Cooper.
“You know, I think the interesting thing when it comes to a ruling is that it relies on enforcement, and it is up to the Biden administration to enforce, to choose whether or not to enforce such a ruling,” she answered.
When Cooper asked if she wanted to live in a world where the government ignores judicial rulings, Ocasio-Cortez submitted that it “raises these important questions” before going on to lament the ability of district court judges to change national policy.
