Clinton: I Want a Supreme Court That Will Stick With Abortion and Gay Marriage
While Trump defends and supports Planned Parenthood and transgender bathrooms.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Sunday at the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., that she wants “a Supreme Court that will stick with Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose” and “marriage equality.”
“I want a Supreme Court that will stick with Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose, and I want a Supreme Court that will stick with marriage equality,” she said when asked what she would “prioritize as the most important aspect of selecting a Supreme Court justice.”
“This is one of the most important issues in this election,” Clinton said.
“I want to appoint Supreme Court justices who understand the way the world really works, who have real-life experience, who have not just been in a big law firm and maybe clerked for a judge and then gotten on the bench, but, you know, maybe they tried some more cases. They actually understand what people are up against,” she added.
“Because I think the current court has gone in the wrong direction, and so I would want to see the Supreme Court reverse Citizens United and get dark, unaccountable money out of our politics. Donald doesn’t agree with that,” Clinton said, referring to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“I would like the Supreme Court to understand that voting rights are still a big problem in many parts of our country, that we don’t always do everything we can to make it possible for people of color and older people and young people to be able to exercise their franchise,” she said.
“I want a Supreme Court that will stick with Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose, and I want a Supreme Court that will stick with marriage equality,” Clinton added. “So I have very clear views about what I want to see to kind of change the balance on the Supreme Court.”
“Now, Donald has put forth the names of some people that he would consider, and among the ones that he has suggested are people who would reverse Roe v. Wade and reverse marriage equality. I think that would be a terrible mistake and would take us backwards,” she said.
“I want a Supreme Court that doesn’t always side with corporate interests. I want a Supreme Court that understands because you’re wealthy and you can give more money to something doesn’t mean you have any more rights or should have any more rights than anybody else,” she said.
Clinton also chided Republicans for not giving a vote for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
“And I regret deeply that the Senate has not done its job, and they have not permitted a vote on the person that President Obama, a highly qualified person, they’ve not given him a vote to be able to be have the full complement of nine Supreme Court justices. I think that was a dereliction of duty,” she said.
“I hope that they will see their way to doing it, but if I am so fortunate enough as to be president, I will immediately move to make sure that we fill that, we have nine justices that get to work on behalf of our people,” Clinton added.
Trump said he would replace the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia with someone “very much in the mold of Justice Scalia.”
“I’m looking for judges — and I’ve actually picked 20 of them so that people would see – highly respected, highly thought of, and actually very beautifully reviewed by just about everybody,” Trump said, “but people that will respect the Constitution of the United States.
“And I think that this is so important. Also, the Second Amendment, which is totally under siege by people like Hillary Clinton. They’ll respect the Second Amendment and what it stands for, what it represents. So important to me,” he said.
Clinton chimed in, saying she would “respect the Second Amendment.”
“The question was about the Supreme Court, and I just want to quickly say I respect the Second Amendment, but I believe there should be comprehensive background checks, and we should close the gun show loophole, and close the online loophole,” she said.
