Pressure Growing: Unapologetic Schumer May Need To Step Down Say Some Democrats
The pressure is growing on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and even Democrats are saying he may need to step down.
During a pro-abortion rally Schumer threatened two Justices on the Supreme Court and said, “From Louisiana, to Missouri, to Texas, Republican legislatures are waging a war on women, all women, and they’re taking away fundamental rights. I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you, if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
His comments were so inflammatory that Chief Justice Roberts made a rare public statement, “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”
Numerous Republicans have called on Schumer to at the very least apologize for what he said and Senator Josh Hawley introduced a motion to censure the Senate Minority Leader but, what was most shocking was Democrats who are making public statements that Schumer should step down.
It started with Jimmy Williams, a senior adviser to Democrat Tom Steyer’s failed presidential campaign.
“Threatening a sitting Justice regardless of their politics is dangerous,” Williams tweeted. “What Schumer said is gross inappropriate and unacceptable. He should clarify his words immediately or step down from leadership. We must be better than this.”
Tom Steyer’s former senior adviser https://t.co/qc6e9HxmcY
— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) March 5, 2020
CNN’s legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin didn’t appreciate Schumer’s comments either.
Toobin said:
“What Chuck Schumer said, it was wrong, it was inappropriate. It was not the way you should talk about the Supreme Court.
…
It was inappropriate. It did sound like a physical threat.”
Toobin wasn’t alone CNN’s senior network political analyst John Avlon said:
“There’s no question Schumer’s comments crossed the line. With lifetime appointments, judges can’t pay the price in political terms, and ‘you won’t know what hit you’ sounded to many like a threat. It certainly did to Chief Justice John Roberts, who issued a rare rebuke to a sitting member of Congress.”
Schumer was unapologetic despite the number of times he has criticized the President over his rhetoric.
Schumer said he should not have used the words he did and that he was not threatening Gorsuch and Kavanaugh: I’m from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language…And Leader McConnell knows that. And Republicans who are busy manufacturing outrage over these comments know that, too pic.twitter.com/9KmpIVyTzo
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) March 5, 2020
