Ocean State Today

Washington, DC – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, today released episode three of his new podcast, Making the Case, breaking down the long effort by right-wing activists and Republican-appointed justices to dismantle reproductive freedom in America.  The third episode of Making the Case is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

“The Dobbs decision that shredded women’s fundamental right to determine their own reproductive health care was exactly the outcome right-wing special interests sought when they installed the far-right supermajority on the Supreme Court,” said Whitehouse.  “The year-old decision, which was totally unmoored from decades of precedent, has had a very real effect on women and families across the country.  In this episode, we explain the concerted right-wing scheme to carry out an extreme anti-abortion agenda through the Court That Dark Money Built.”

In the third episode of Making the Case, Whitehouse is joined by Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA), NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju, and University of Michigan Law School professor and Strict Scrutiny podcast host Leah Litman.  The podcast explores the far-right influence operation around the Court by anti-abortion activists, the mysterious leak of the draft Dobbs decision, and the consequences for women’s health and freedom in America.

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization struck down Roe v. Wade.  The Court’s disastrous decision has stripped access to abortion care for millions of Americans and denied women the freedom to make their own health care decisions.  Since the Dobbs decision, 15 states have banned abortion in almost all cases, or after six weeks of pregnancy.  Seven additional states also have bans or restrictions pending final action from courts.  Additionally, state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to further limit access to abortion care.

Whitehouse is a co-lead on the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, a bill to protect women’s right to cross state lines to seek abortion care and to protect providers in states where care is still legal, like Rhode Island.  Whitehouse also joined colleagues in reintroducing bills to safeguard reproductive care, including the Women’s Health Protection Act, the Right to Contraception Act, and Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act. 

Whitehouse has long been the Senate’s leading voice for improving transparency and accountability at the Supreme Court, delivering a series of speeches on the Senate floor about the special interest scheme to remake the judicial branch.  Whitehouse is working to pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which was endorsed by The New York Times and would strengthen recusal and transparency standards for the federal judiciary and create an enforceable code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.  The Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee recently held a hearing on the legislation, and the full Judiciary Committee will mark up Supreme Court ethics legislation in the next work period.  The Senator has also led legislation to create term limits at the Court.

Original source can be found here.