By Dave Andrusko
Well, Planned Parenthood could’ve asked for “major reform of the federal judiciary” right after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe, I suppose, but instead waited 11 months. Perhaps they hoped that would be interpreted as a sign of deliberation and careful thought.
But you could see this one coming a mile away, especially the part about expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court. PPFA’s president Alexis McGill Johnson went on MSNBC’S “Inside with Jen Psaki” to tell the former White House Press Secretary that “We think it’s incredibly important now that we need to see expanded courts, from lower courts all the way up to the Supreme Court. We need to see term limits. We need to see ethical reforms.”
Ah, yes, Planned Parenthood offers up a menu of “reforms” that just happen to increase the power of Democrats and Planned Parenthood. What else?
“The organization is also demanding an end to single-judge divisions, such as the Amarillo division in the Northern Texas District Court, where its sole judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, issued a ruling halting the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a widely used abortion pill,” Oriana González reports. PPFA calls this “court shopping” which, of course, Planned Parenthood would never do.
Right.
Judge Kacsmaryk’s April 7 decision suspended FDA approval of mifepristone, the first of the two drug abortion regimen. He accepted the argument of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that the FDA had fast-tracked the approval of mifepristone through a process intended for the treatment of life-threatening illnesses
However the Supreme Court temporarily blocked Kacsmaryk, decision and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on Wednesday.
Anything else? In addition to enlarging the Supreme Court, Planned Parenthood wants term limits for justices. The exact number of years was not spelled out.
But PPFA didn’t forget the lower courts. “They’re also urging Congress to increase the number of lower court seats to keep up with the growing U.S. population and caseload,” according to González.
All this wrapped up in “the first” ever headline as if Planned Parenthood had never previously tinkered with expanding the number of justices. But the objective was clearly spelled out in a tweet by Johnson:
“It’s clear that the courts have been used as a vehicle to advance a dangerous agenda against reproductive rights.”