CNN Newsroom: Interview With Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Interview

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Remember what they said about the Dobbs decisions? Well, we're going to let each State decide the law on abortion as it relates to the residents of that State. Now, look, what's happening. Here comes a Judge in Texas who has decided that he is going to call into question the legitimacy and efficacy of a drug that's been on the market for 20 years, not just in the State of Texas, mind you, but nationally, if he has his way.

This has become a headline issue, which we return to time and time again, as the Republicans move closer to banning abortion across America.

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Just think for a moment, here is a drug that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration 20 years ago, plus, it has been administered successfully with very, very few contraindications and bad results across the United States. And now the prolife movement has decided that they want to stop this drug from being administered and prescribed across America.

What in the world is next? I mean, this is not a question of States' rights any longer, it is a national right, a constitutional right that's been taken away by the Supreme Court.

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That's the obvious question, and I asked that question to Chief Justice Roberts more than 10 years ago, in writing, why don't you adopt the same standards and procedures that apply to all the other Federal Courts and apply it to the US Supreme Court to limit activities and also require disclosure? He wrote back and basically said, very tersely, we don't think it's necessary.

Well, I hope he's read the ProPublica piece about Justice Clarence Thomas, who once again has surfaced as Exhibit A in the problem that this Court faces.

Chief Justice Roberts needs to take the important first step here, as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to restore the integrity of that Court with a thorough and credible investigation of what happened with Justice Thomas, and what they're going to do moving forward.

At a minimum, the Highest Court in the land should not have the lowest standards of justice when it comes to ethics.

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It doesn't pass the laugh test, and let me tell you what's even worse. We're having disclosures by lobbyists from the MAGA side, the right wing of American politics, who have targeted the Supreme Court Justices, and Justice Thomas is not alone. Justice Alito's name is mentioned as well. They believe that they can influence them.

People like Leonard Leo, who has been the architect, the Republican architect, to mastermind control of the Federal Court system. We understand as a company, Justice Thomas on these trips that were paid for by this billionaire out of Texas. So the plot thickens.

And if Justice Roberts cares about the integrity of this Court, and I believe he does, he needs to prove it with a thorough and complete investigation of what occurred, and a reform of the Courts' ethics immediately.

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You know, I couldn't answer that question and feel that I really know all the facts to answer it, but I do know this, I've been around legislatures and Congress and the United States Senate for most of my adult life. I've seen some people speak out on the floor of all of those bodies and I've seen the reaction to it.

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I remember when John Lewis, the late Civil Rights leader from Georgia, stood up on the floor of the House of Representatives and said, voting rights are so essential that we're going to have a sit- in, in the US House of Representatives. I joined him, as did Tammy Duckworth in that sit-in. He was not expelled, nor should he have been.

I think expressions like that on the floor of a legislature should not be treated as if they are capital offense. If there was some censure or admonishment that was part of it, so be it, but to expel two members from the Tennessee House of Representatives is an outrage.

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Thanks, Jim.

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