President Biden has issued a second statement regarding Texas' new, extreme abortion law, this one far more scathing than the last, and aimed at the Supreme Court's 5-4 denial to take up the case as it stands. He also called on the White House's Gender Policy Council to investigate the court's decision.
"The Supreme Court's ruling overnight is an unprecedented assault on a woman's constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade," Biden wrote. "Rather than use its supreme authority to ensure justice could be fairly sought, the highest court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities."
Biden also noted that the dissenting justices' opinions "demostrate the error of the court's action here powerfully," thus, as CNN's Kevin Liptak notes, issuing a "fierce criticism" of the court's "shadow docket."
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Biden concluded by directing the Gender Policy Council and the Office of the White House Counsel to launch a "whole-of-government effort" alongside the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to investigate how the federal government can help abortion-seeking people in Texas, "and what legal tools we have to insulate women and providers from the impact of Texas' bizarre scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties."
Notably, the president's earlier statement failed to mention the court, an exclusion some were quick to highlight.
On Thursday, however, to MSNBC columnist Chris Geidner's point, Biden did make sure to address both the court's "abdication" and what he will do to help.
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