A Republican senator drew widespread criticism this weekend after citing an historic racial segregation ruling amid reactions to the Supreme Court’s horrifying decision on abortion.
via: BET
A day after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, which gave people the constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years, a Texas senator is going viral for comparing it to a previous ruling on segregation.
Texas Senator John Cornyn responded to a tweet by former president Barack Obama that denounced the Roe decision. Cornyn, an avid anti-abortionist, responded: “Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education.”
Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education. https://t.co/hrUYCcIq8Y
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 25, 2022
It isn’t exactly clear what Cornyn meant by his tweet. Some believe he was suggesting the SCOTUS reverse the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ruled that segregated schools needed to integrate.
Sounds like you’re arguing for a return to segregated schools, Senator @JohnCornyn. https://t.co/PsiDynZ8nY
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) June 25, 2022
Wow. I’m not surprised you feel this way, but I am surprised you said it.
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) June 25, 2022
Disgustingly dishonest of you.
The whole point of @JohnCornyn's tweet is to show that overturning BAD precedent is a GOOD thing.
Plessy was bad. Roe was bad.
Dobbs overturned Roe ruling, like Brown vs Board of Education overturned Plessy.
SCOTUS overturns things all the time.— Patrick McGuinness (@mcguinnessfortx) June 26, 2022
You miss this sort of thing? pic.twitter.com/5bI16SiXHm
— Tom Mallory ?? ????? (@tom_mallory) June 25, 2022
Others think he was referring to Plessy v. Ferguson establishing precedent only to be overturned by Brown half a century later. If so, the comparison is puzzling considering Roe, similar to Brown, established rights for people, while its reversal removed them.
I am no fan of @JohnCornyn (after he backstabbed gun owners w/ Red Flag laws).
That said, it seems pretty obvious to me he was responding to @BarackObama by pointing out other times SCOTUS overturned longterm precedents, not calling for these decisions to be overturned. https://t.co/gLyTMfOF73
— Sen. Eric Brakey ?? (@SenatorBrakey) June 25, 2022
Regardless, Cornyn followed up his original tweet in an attempt to clear it up.
Thank goodness some SCOTUS precedents are overruled. https://t.co/x7iwzm4lto
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 25, 2022
The development comes nearly five decades after the landmark Roe v. Wade decision made it legal to terminate a pregnancy, sparking a feverish debate that touched on issues ranging from health care to politics.
Writing the court’s majority opinion overturning Roe, Justice Samuel Alito summarized what the decision essentially means:
“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito declared.
With the new decision, abortion access will now be decided at the state level. Politicians in some states like New York and California have promised to keep the right to an abortion unchanged, while other states like Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas, “trigger laws” have already outlawed the procedure.
