Transcript - Press Gaggle: Joe Biden Speaks to Reporters Before Air Force One Departure - May 3, 2022 | Factba.se

Question

00:00:00 - 00:00:03 ()

What did you think of the [Inaudible, about the leak of the draft Supreme Court abortion decision]?

Joe Biden

00:00:03 - 00:00:17 ()

Well, first of all, I just got a call saying that it's been announced that it is a real draft, but it doesn't represent who's going to vote for it yet. I hope there are not enough votes for it.

Joe Biden

00:00:17 - 00:00:28 ()

It's the main reason why I worked so hard to keep Robert Bork off the Court. It reflects his view almost -- almost word -- anyway.

Joe Biden

00:00:28 - 00:00:46 ()

Look, the idea that -- it concerns me a great deal that we're going to, after 50 years, decide a woman does not have a right to choose within the limits of the Supreme Court decision in Casey, number one.

Joe Biden

00:00:46 - 00:00:59 ()

But even more equally as profound is the rationale used. And it would mean that every other decision relating to the notion of privacy is thrown into question.

Joe Biden

00:00:59 - 00:01:09 ()

I realize this goes back a long way, but one of the debates I had with Robert Bork was whether -- whether Griswold vs. Connecticut should stand as law.

Joe Biden

00:01:09 - 00:01:19 ()

The state of Connecticut said that the privacy of your bedroom -- you -- a husband and wife or a couple could not choose to use contraception; the use of contraception was a violation of the law.

Joe Biden

00:01:19 - 00:01:37 ()

If the rationale of the decision as released were to be sustained, a whole range of rights are in question -- a whole range of rights. And the idea we're letting the states make those decisions, localities make those decisions would be a fundamental shift in what we've done.

Joe Biden

00:01:37 - 00:02:09 ()

So, it goes far beyond -- in my view, if it becomes a law and if what is written is what remains, it goes far beyond the concern of whether or not there is the right to choose. It goes to other basic rights: the right to marry, the right to determine a whole range of things. Because one of the issues that this Court -- many of the members of the Court -- a number of the members of the Court have not acknowledged is that there is a right to privacy in our Constitution.

Joe Biden

00:02:09 - 00:02:23 ()

I strongly believe there is. I think the decision in Griswold was correct overruling; I think the decision in Roe was correct, because there's a right to privacy. There can be limitations on it, but it cannot be denied.

Question

00:02:23 - 00:02:27 ()

Do you think this leak has irreparably changed the Court?

Joe Biden

00:02:27 - 00:02:28 ()

Beg your pardon?

Question

00:02:28 - 00:02:33 ()

Do you think that this leak has irreparably changed the Court? We've never seen this happen before.

Joe Biden

00:02:33 - 00:02:39 ()

You know, if -- if this decision holds, it's really quite a radical decision.

Joe Biden

00:02:39 - 00:03:04 ()

And, again, the underlying premise -- and, again, I've not had a chance to thoroughly go into the report -- the decision. But it basically says all the decisions related to your private life -- who you marry, whether or not you decide to conceive a child or not, whether or not you can have an abortion, a range of other decisions -- whether or not -- how you raise your child --

Joe Biden

00:03:04 - 00:03:16 ()

What does this do -- and does this mean that in Florida they can decide they're going to pass a law saying that same-sex marriage is not permissible, that it's against the law in Florida?

Joe Biden

00:03:16 - 00:03:22 ()

And so, there's a whole -- it's a fundamental shift in American jurisprudence if it were to hold.

Question

00:03:22 - 00:03:27 ()

Mr. President, should the Senate do away with the filibuster to codify Roe?

Joe Biden

00:03:27 - 00:03:37 ()

I'm not -- I'm not prepared to make those judgments now about -- but, you know, I think the codification of Roe makes a lot of sense.

Joe Biden

00:03:37 - 00:04:02 ()

Look, think what Roe says. Roe says what all basic mainstream religions have historically concluded -- that the right -- that the existence of a human life and being is a question. Is it at the moment of conception? Is it six months? Is it six weeks? Is it -- is it quickening, like Aquinas argued?

Joe Biden

00:04:02 - 00:04:21 ()

I mean, so the idea that we're going to make a judgment that is going to say that no one can make the judgment to choose to abort a child based on a decision by the Supreme Court, I think, goes way overboard.

Question

00:04:21 - 00:04:26 ()

What does this mean for the midterms? What does this mean for the Democrats' argument in the midterms?

Joe Biden

00:04:26 - 00:04:27 ()

I haven't thought that through yet.

Question

00:04:27 - 00:04:32 ()

Do changes need to be made to the Court in light of this, if this decision holds?

Joe Biden

00:04:32 - 00:04:33 ()

I beg your pardon?

Question

00:04:33 - 00:04:37 ()

Do changes need to be made to the Court in light of this, if this decision holds?

Joe Biden

00:04:37 - 00:04:48 ()

We have to choose -- I mean, look, one of the reasons why I voted against a number of the members of the Court: They refuse to acknowledge that there's a 9th Amendment. They refuse to acknowledge there's a right to privacy.

Joe Biden

00:04:48 - 00:05:02 ()

I mean, there are so many fundamental rights that are affected by that. And I'm not allo- -- I'm not prepared to leave that to the whims and the -- and the -- of the public at the moment in local areas.

Joe Biden

00:05:02 - 00:05:06 ()

Thank you so much.