(USA Features) Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been hit with an ethics complaint after he appeared to threaten two Supreme Court justices by name during a pro-abortion rally last week.
Schumer declared at a Center for Reproductive Rights rally a week ago that two conservative judges, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, will “pay the price” if they vote against pro-choice advocates in a case regarding a Louisiana abortion law.
“Over the last three years, women’s reproductive rights have come under attack in a way we haven’t seen in modern history. From Louisiana, to Missouri, to Texas, Republican legislatures are waging a war on women, all women, and they’re taking away fundamental rights,” he warned.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you, if you go forward with these awful decisions,” he said.
The comments immediately drew condemnation from Republicans who accused Schumer of threatening the justices and the independence of the Judiciary.
Schumer’s office pushed back, and the senator himself blamed his Brooklyn background and demeanor.
On Friday, however, the National Legal Policy Center filed complaints against Schumer with both the Senate Ethics Committee and New York bar.
“It strains credulity to believe that, regardless of his Brooklyn pedigree, Sen. Schumer, who is a Harvard-educated lawyer, Senator minority leader, and vocal opponent of both Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, did not intend to choose the exact words he spoke as he turned and pointed to the Supreme Court behind him to further emphasize his point,” the NLPC’s complaint reads. “In short, his non-apology is a lame excuse for inexcusable conduct.”
The Landmark Legal Foundation, which is chaired by conservative talk radio host Mark Levin, also submitted a complaint.
“The Senate must immediately reprimand, if not censure, Sen. Schumer for his outrageous and dangerous attack on Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh,” said the complaint, alleging that the lawmaker’s comments could amount to “improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate.”
This article originally appeared at USAFEATURESMEDIA and was republished with permission.
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