'Cheap': CNN's Zakaria says Justice Samuel Alito 'looks like an idiot' with anti-choice victory lap
This week, Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito made a speech in Rome, sponsored by the University of Notre Dame Law School, in which he mocked world leaders who expressed concern over the United States eliminating the privacy and personal freedoms of women across the country. Alito cracked jokes and mocked the world leaders, something CNN host Fareed Zakaria called "cheap."
Jim Acosta said that it seemed like Alito was "needling" his opponents at a time when people are legitimately afraid of some of the state laws that target pregnant people and the doctors who help them. Already Americans have faced a series of frightening incidents about women being forced to get close to death before a hospital will save them with an abortion of a dead fetus. In another case, a 10-year-old rape survivor had to travel to another state for an abortion because she was three days after the cut-off date. Hospitals in Kansas City were forced to stop giving emergency contraception to women who came in after being raped.
"It is much worse than that, Jim, because it is damaging the court's legitimacy," Zakaria said of Alito's mockery. "And one of the things that has kept the court's legitimacy over time has been a sense of dignity and a sense of majesty, and a sense that the justices are doing what they are doing for serious constitutional reasons. They don't pay attention to the chitter chatter, and they don't pay attention to trivial news — and that is why cameras are not allowed into the Supreme Court. Otherwise, why else are nine unelected people allowed to make these incredibly important decisions that affect 330 million people's lives? Nobody elected them."
He explained that there is an element of legitimacy that came with the court prior to the GOP stealing a seat from President Barack Obama in 2016. Republican senators wouldn't allow a vote for nearly a year.
"To put it very simply, they behave themselves, and they behave in accordance with the dignity and the majesty of the court," said Zakaria. "And what Alito did behaving like a cheap — like a commentator, and not a particularly good one at that — was frankly disgusting. I thought it was the most undignified performance by a Supreme Court Justice that I have seen in my lifetime. I don't think that any of the predecessors would have done it. It is scandalous, and there is not a disciplining procedure, but if John Roberts wants to fulfill the role of Chief Justice, he should call Justice Alito in and saying why this damage is not just Alito who looks like an idiot, but it is damaging the court. It makes it look less dignified and less cerebral and less respectful of the country that they have extraordinary power over."
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'Cheap': CNN's Zakaria says Justice Alito 'looks like an idiot' with anti-choice victory lap youtu.be