‘New Low’: Laura Ingraham Selectively Edits Jeffrey Toobin’s Comments About Clarence Thomas to Make Them Sound Racist
Laura Ingraham took liberals to task for their attacks on Justice Clarence Thomas, who joined fellow conservatives in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion.
In particular, she took aim at CNN’s Don Lemon and Jeffrey Toobin, the latter of whose comments she selectively edited to appear racist.
Unlike the other conservative justices in Dobbs, Thomas took the additional step of explicitly stating in a concurring opinion that the court should seek cases that may result in overturning the constitutionally protected right to birth control (Griswold v. Connecticut), private and consensual same-sex relations (Lawrence v. Texas), and same-sex marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges).
Some critics noted Thomas omitted a similar case that struck down bans on interracial marriage (Loving v. Virginia). These critics have often noted that Thomas, who is Black, has a White wife.
On Tuesday, Ingraham accused Thomas’ critics of racism. Specifically, she cited a segment from Monday’s Don Lemon Tonight featuring the eponymous host and Toobin. In the segment, Toobin explained that the Loving case is different from the ones Thomas had mentioned.
But in the clip Ingraham showed, those comments were edited out entirely, leaving the viewer with the impression he had simply claimed Thomas didn’t mention interracial marriage because his wife is White.
Ingraham teed up the clip by calling the attacks “pretty gross.”
Here was the dialogue she showed:
LEMON: Why doesn’t he feel the same about interracial marriage?
TOOBIN: Well, you know, look. Let’s not be coy about that. Everybody knows he’s married to a White woman.
[…]
LEMON: Still didn’t mention it.
TOOBIN: [Laughs] I’m trying to be fair here, Don.
LEMON: And Loving was just a couple years before Roe.
TOOBIN: I mean, look, it was a conspicuous absence…
Ingraham declared, “It’s a new low, even for CNN.”
But here’s the full exchange, which shows Toobin explaining that Thomas may have omitted interracial marriage because its racial component has different implications for substantive due process.
LEMON: Why doesn’t he feel the same about interracial marriage?
TOOBIN: Well, you know, look. Let’s not be coy about that. Everybody knows he’s married to a White woman. And so some people think, “Oh, he’s not talking about Loving v. Virginia, which is the interracial case.” In his defense, that case was also about privacy like the abortion cases. But it also had a racial dimension which makes it a somewhat different substantive due process case.
LEMON: Still didn’t mention it.
TOOBIN: [Laughs] I’m trying to be fair here, Don.
LEMON: And Loving was just a couple years before Roe.
TOOBIN: I mean, look, it was a conspicuous absence, but you could articulate a reason why it’s different.
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