NBC News host and “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd suggested Friday that the Supreme Court is “rigged” by conservatives in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Todd said the Court has become politicized by coming to represent the political right and has, for the first time, “taken away a right.” The Court ruled that Roe v. Wade was “egregiously wrong from the start” and is thereby overturned in a majority opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito.
“It’s the first time in my lifetime that I can think of where a Supreme Court took away a right,” he said. “I can’t think of another court in the last hundred years that has done this. A right that was there taken away. We’re used to the Supreme Court granting rights, same-sex marriage, and sort of reinterpreting things. This is a specific right being taken away from slightly more than half the population.”
He said this decision has eroded the public’s trust in the Court and instead has made it be seen as an “extraordinarily partisan institution.” (RELATED: The Last Time Liberals Freaked Out This Much, Hillary Lost Pennsylvania)
“I think now, particularly what happened this week, particularly with how Donald Trump appointed the Supreme Court [and] how he went about it … there’s really a lot of people who believe this is a rigged court,” Todd continued. “This court’s makeup isn’t, quote, “fair and square.” It isn’t really representative of where the country is and even was. I think that is only going to add to cynicism.”
He said Justice John Roberts attempted to find a “middle ground” by trying to redefine Roe rather than overturn it, but “failed” to do so.
He added that the 2016 presidential election is possibly the “most consequential election” in over a century.
“Just think about what has changed in America in culture and society due to the results of the 2016 election,” he said.
During his presidential term, former President Donald Trump appointed three conservative justices to the Court — Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — who all currently serve on the bench. The Trump-appointed justices joined Alito in the majority opinion.
The former president celebrated and credited himself for the Court’s decision, saying it was “his great honor” to create the current conservative majority to the bench.
“Today’s decision, which is the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation, along with other decisions that have been announced recently, were only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. It was my great honor to do so,” he said.