• 3 days ago
"The Constitution didn't consider me a person, in any way, shape, or form."

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she believes in the Constitution, but not the way Amy Coney Barrett interprets it…

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00:00You ask a gay black woman if she's an originalist? No ma'am I am not. Since the
00:05Constitution didn't consider me a person in any way shape or form, because I'm a
00:10woman, because I'm black, because I'm gay, I am not an originalist.
00:30I believe in the Constitution. I believe that as a document that the founders
00:48intended to evolve and what they did was set the framework for how our country
00:54was going to be different than any other. But originalists say let's go back to
00:591776 and whatever was there in the original language, that's it. Well that
01:07language is excluded now over 50% of the country. So no I'm not an
01:12originalist. I think given the numbers in the Senate, the nomination is on a course
01:18for confirmation, but I ask the American people to look long and hard at what is
01:24happening in our democracy. The Supreme Court cannot be politicized. If it is in
01:31the way that this administration has done, it will have zero legitimacy. I
01:36deeply worry about this woman's stated views. She's on a record on a number of
01:42different things, not the least of which is thinking that gay marriage is
01:46something that shouldn't be countenance. And she's got soul mates in Justice
01:52Thomas and others who think that the decision by the Supreme Court, which I
01:58think is only a handful of years old, should somehow be rolled back. So what
02:03should I tell my daughter? That somehow now my wife and I are no longer married?
02:09That we're no longer legitimately recognized in the eyes of the law? That is
02:13dangerous, dangerous territory. I hope the cooler heads prevail if she becomes a
02:19justice, that the members of the court are going to also understand that
02:24they're not, they don't operate in a vacuum. If they operate in a way that is
02:29perceived as overtly political, they will have zero legitimacy in the eyes of the
02:34American people, undermining the whole premise of lifetime tenure and why we
02:40have a Supreme Court of the land. But I'm worried that this woman, given her stated
02:46views, doesn't speak to millions of Americans who just want to be free and
02:53without oppression from our government. And it feels like this court is moving
02:59down the track of being overtly political and undoing even recent
03:04precedent, undermining the whole notion of stare decisis, which in lay terms
03:10means that you respect the precedent.