This week on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Night in America,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) heaped praise on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
Lee, who clerked for Alito, praised his former boss’ opinion, describing it as “masterfully written.” He said he hoped it would “end up being the opinion of the court.”
“I believe that because [abortion] isn’t addressed by the U.S. Constitution, this is something that can be worked out among the 50 states and something that should be worked out among the 50 states,” Lee outlined. “And that’s OK. In fact, a lot of the clamor against the draft decision, which I hope and expect, will end up being the opinion of the court because it’s masterfully written. I have never been more proud to be a former law clerk to Justice Alito than I had after reading that wonderful opinion.”
He continued, “But, look, all those who are attacking that opinion are suggesting that somehow this is going to be a huge problem. They are saying that it’s overthrowing democracy. Nonsense. This actually enables democratic processes. If you want to talk about something thwarting democratic processes, it’s Roe v. Wade, which has taken people out of that equation altogether. Another argument they frequently make is you will have inconsistent protections for this or for that if we allow states to do that. That is federalism. That is the Constitution. That was the whole point is that we are going to allow states to govern themselves according to the wills and wishes of the people of the state. And it’s OK to have a patchwork quilt. There are some areas that the Constitution identifies as necessarily national, unavoidably federal, and it identifies them as such. This isn’t one of them, and that’s OK.”
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