Sen. Josh Hawley argued Thursday evening that the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft opinion on overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is the right one.
During an appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the Missouri Republican told the Fox News host that the decision was wrongly decided in the first place, but he said in the decades since, abortion has become a “religion” to the Democrat left.
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
Carlson: “Senator Josh Hawley understands exactly what’s going on here. He clerked on the Supreme Court for John Roberts and we’re happy to have him join us. Senator, thanks so much for coming on. So you have a sitting member of Congress threatening court justices with a mob if they don’t do what she wants. That seems very dangerous to me.”
Hawley: “You know, what it is, Tucker, is abortion is religion for the far left. They’re willing to do anything to defend that religion and to force it on everybody else. That’s why they’re willing to burn down the court as an institution. You know, they’re only for the institution if it does exactly what they say it should do. And let’s be clear about what Roe really says.
What Roe really says is that the people are too stupid to make these decisions for themselves. The people can’t be trusted to actually vote and deliberate and make tough moral choices. It says, ‘Oh, no, no, nine justices wearing robes, they should be the ones making all the decisions.’ That’s not what the constitution says though, Tucker, and that’s why we need to get back to trusting the people and actually enforcing the Constitution.”
Carlson: “Well, exactly. I mean, I have really strong feelings about this. I would be absolutely happy —in fact, I hope that we can put this up for a vote in the United States Congress, in the House, and the Senate, and we can determine what the people want to do about abortion. Why is that a scary option?”
Hawley: “You know, it’s not scary. It’s democracy. And this is about whether or not democracy is going to have its day. You know, supposedly Joe Biden believes in democracy, and yet today you heard him. He was saying that this is too important to be trusted to the whims of the people. Oh, you mean actually the voters, you mean the people who elected you, the sovereigns of this nation?
That’s what we’re talking about here. So what the court should do, and what this opinion does do, is that it puts democracy back in the driver’s seat. And I hope the court will stick with it. They can’t turn back now, Tucker, in the face of this pressure.”
WATCH:
On Monday, POLITICO published a leaked copy of the February draft, a majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito.
If the decision remains as-is, the court will strike down the “egregiously” decided Roe ruling but not ban abortion. Rather, the ruling would return the issue to states for their citizens to decide.
KNOW MORE: