An angry Stephen Colbert criticized the Supreme Court after a leaked draft opinion indicated the Supreme Court's ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization will move to strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that protects a person's right to choose reproductive healthcare without excessive government restriction.
Colbert's blistering monologue, which was bleeped at the start after he uttered a four-letter word, included a nod to The Handmaid's Tale, a novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood about an unnamed narrator, the eponymous handmaid, who lives in Gilead, a society where women are forced to have children against their will.
He also had harsh words for Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, who voted to confirm Trump-nominated justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and went on record with her belief that the two men would note vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade precedent.
You can hear what Colbert said in the video below.
The Supreme Court Doesn't Give A Damn What The Public Wants | How Gullible Is Susan Collins?youtu.be
Colbert said:
“Sh*t... Congratulations, ladies, your decisions are being made by four dudes and a woman who thinks The Handmaid’s Tale is a rom-com."
He went on to roll clips of Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh agreeing during their confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade is settled law and condemned them for their hypocrisy, saying:
“I’m not a lawyer. I can’t tell you if Roe was rightly decided, but I can tell you that it’s an important precedent that has been repeatedly affirmed."
"And that’s not my opinion. It’s the opinion of these clowns."
“Well, because American voters support abortion in all or most cases at 80 percent, they knew that if they were honest they wouldn’t get the job, so they lied, which I think is perjury."
"But what do I know? I’m not a Supreme Court Justice. I’m not a good enough liar.”
Colbert then turned his attention to Senator Collins.
In 2018, Collins voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a decisive vote that came despite criticisms about Kavanaugh's history of hardline conservative jurisprudence and concerns over what that could mean for abortion rights.
At the time, Collins insisted that Kavanaugh would not vote to undermine or overturn Roe v. Wade, but she would turn out to be wrong about him, such as the moment news outlets reported that he was among five Justices who voted not to block a Texas law that went into effect last September that prohibits virtually all abortions after a heartbeat is detected.
Colbert referred to Collins as "just another gullible grandma" and mocked her for taking Kavanaugh at his word just because "we pinky-swore in my office."
Colbert's monologue quickly went viral and many took to social media to also express their anger over the leaked draft opinion.
Colbert isn't the only late night television host to respond to the draft leak.
Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon joked that while the Supreme Court had decided that wearing masks as a protective measure during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic should not be mandatory, the Justices have decided that "Mother's Day is."
Meanwhile, Daily Show host Trevor Noah said that "women in places like South Dakota or Missouri or even Texas will have the exact same abortion rights as women in Afghanistan under the Taliban," adding that the United States had only recently "evacuated people out of Afghanistan "and now we’re going to have to evacuate them out of Tennessee."
@NBCNews/X
@donny_rover1879/X
@RealCandaceO/X
@joekent16jan19/X
