WASHINGTON—Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement today in response to recent decisions handed down by the Supreme Court to dismantle affirmative action, roll back LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections, and overturn the Biden-Harris Administration’s student debt relief program:
“The Supreme Court decisions released this week are unacceptable and indefensible. The Court’s right-wing majority has rolled back rights and protections for people of color, LGBTQ+ people, women, students, and future generations.
“We won’t have the wool pulled over our eyes: the truth of the matter is that yesterday this Court banned affirmative action under the guise of equal protection, and today they legalized discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community. That logic does not add up. These decisions are a disgrace.
“These ideas are unpopular and would fail on any ballot and in our Congress. But the far-right has spent decades advancing unrepresentative judges to enshrine their extremist beliefs at the highest levels of our judicial system. It is fundamentally antidemocratic and insulting to the values this country was founded upon.
“We must always strive for a more perfect union, where individual rights are expanded, not restricted. The Court’s recent decisions directly counter that intention.So many young people in America will now grow up with fewer rights, protections, and opportunities than their parents.
“I will keep fighting for legislation to protect the rights of all Americans and provide much-needed checks and balances on the Supreme Court, including stronger ethical standards for Justices. We must also continue the Judiciary Committee’s investigation into exclusive access for special interests pushing a political agenda before the Court, and we should follow the facts wherever they lead. Congress must act to rein in a Court that has become the most powerful branch of our government.
“We cannot allow the Supreme Court to undo the progress generations of Americans fought to achieve.”
Original source can be found here.
