Biden: Supreme Court Roe decision ‘an exercise in raw political power’

President Biden on Friday took aim at the Supreme Court for its decision to strike down Roe v. Wade last month as he signed an executive order to strengthen abortion access, criticizing the court as “out of control” and taking away the rights of women.

“This was not a decision driven by the Constitution. This was not a decision driven by history,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “What we’re witnessing wasn’t a constitutional judgment. It was an exercise in raw political power.”

“The court now practically dares the women of America to go to the ballot box and restore the very rights they’ve just taken away,” Biden added.

Biden said the Supreme Court was working with “extremist elements of the Republican Party” as he derided the decision, handed down on June 24, to eliminate the nearly 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion and hand states authority to drastically limit or ban the procedure.

The president argued the Supreme Court had essentially issued a challenge to the American public to go vote in November’s elections for lawmakers who would support codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade into national law.

Biden’s comments marked some of his sharpest criticism of the Supreme Court in the two weeks since the decision from the conservative-majority court. And it came as some members of the Democratic Party have been critical that Biden has not been fiery enough in his response to the rolling back of abortion rights.

The president on Friday signed an executive order aimed at strengthening access to contraceptives and abortion medication, as well as bolstering privacy protections around reproductive health care.

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