Andrew Yang said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was doing more harm than good when he said conservative Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would “pay the price” for their votes on abortion regulations.
“I’m a champion of women’s reproductive rights as fundamental human rights, but I don’t think it’s productive for a senator to publicly rebuke Supreme Court justices before a ruling,” the former Democratic presidential contender said Thursday on ABC’s The View. “I mean, we have constitutional separation of powers for a reason, and the fact is if this had happened in reverse, then I’m sure Chuck and many other Democrats would be very, very upset about it.”
Yang, who is considering a run for New York City mayor, said it was also “terrible” when President Trump criticized liberal Supreme Court justices and said it was “not great” when Democrats do it too.
Schumer attended a pro-abortion rally on Wednesday, where he whipped up the crowd by targeting Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” the Senate minority leader said. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
The comments brought on swift backlash from his colleagues and a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. Schumer took to the Senate floor on Thursday to apologize. “I shouldn’t have used the words I did,” he acknowledged while also accusing the GOP of a “gross distortion” of his words by characterizing them as a threat.
