A recently leaked draft majority opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court revealed that a majority of Justices were evidently prepared to overturn the court’s prior ruling in Roe v. Wade, which established the legally recognized nationwide right to an abortion. Condemnation for the draft opinion has been swift and widespread — including from those, like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who stand in the way of making real progress on this issue.
A stolen, illegitimate, and far-right Supreme Court majority appears set to destroy the right to abortion, an essential right which protects the health, safety, and freedom of millions of Americans. There is no other recourse. We must expand the court.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) May 3, 2022
Making changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules to allow for the passage of abortion rights protections with a simple majority in favor would be an important step towards actually getting to the point of having those protections in place, but Sinema opposes changing those rules. At present, the procedures demand that at least 60 Senators in the 100-member chamber support moving forward with most legislation in order for the process to actually continue. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted support on Twitter for a primary challenge against Sinema after the Senator spoke out against the draft Supreme Court opinion while keeping up her filibuster support. Ocasio-Cortez commented:
‘We could protect Roe tomorrow, but Sinema refuses to act on the filibuster. Until that changes she can take a seat talking about “women’s access to health care.” Hold everyone contributing to this disaster accountable, GOP & Dem obstructionists included. She should be primaried.’
We could protect Roe tomorrow, but Sinema refuses to act on the filibuster. Until that changes she can take a seat talking about “women’s access to health care.”
Hold everyone contributing to this disaster accountable, GOP & Dem obstructionists included. She should be primaried. https://t.co/NWLsixsiNH
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 3, 2022
There’s already a movement among Democrats in Arizona for a primary challenge to Sinema, although she won’t be up for re-election for long enough that high-profile potential candidates have yet to commit to the race but definitely still could make the move. In a statement about the draft opinion, Sinema reiterated her commitment to the chamber’s filibuster rules right after remarking on the substance of the draft. As the Senator put it, “A woman’s health care choices should be between her, her family, and her doctor. Overturning Roe v. Wade endangers the health and wellbeing of women in Arizona and across America. Protections in the Senate safeguarding against the erosion of women’s access to health care have been used half-a-dozen times in the past ten years, and are more important now than ever.” Her idea is that filibuster rules help protect abortion rights because of opportunities to use them to stop GOP affronts against reproductive health care.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.):
"There is no other recourse. We must abolish the filibuster in order to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, and we must expand the Supreme Court in order to reclaim the stolen seats, and restore balance and the faith of the American people."
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) May 3, 2022
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who was the only Democrat to vote with Sinema and Republicans against changing the Senate’s filibuster rules to allow for the passage of voting rights protections, has also re-established just this week that he remains committed to essentially leaving the filibuster rules alone. He used arguments similar to those Sinema shared. Meanwhile, the threat remains that the Supreme Court could end up going with a final majority opinion along the lines of the leaked draft, although the alignment of the Justices on this issue could change. If the court’s Roe decision is overturned, then handling abortion access will be left up to state leaders, and Republicans in dozens of states would no doubt leap at the chance to ban abortions. Some Republican leaders have focused more since the draft opinion emerged on the supposed impact to judicial decision-making from the leak rather than the opinion itself.
Big: Senator Joe Manchin just indicated he would not blow up the filibuster to codify Roe, saying he believes the filibuster is a check on power that preserves abortion rights. Without Manchin, the chance of passing Roe into law is pretty much zero.
— Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) May 3, 2022
