{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=FF663748-3020-4480-9218-F9159BBD0AFF", "Thune Denounces Democrats\u2019 Supreme Court Temper Tantrums", "2024-06-13", "2024", "2024-06", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor to condemn Democrats\u2019 attempts to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court. Thune noted that trust in the Supreme Court\u2019s independence is essential, and he warned of the severe consequences of Democrats\u2019 unwarranted hysteria and threats directed at the court.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats made their latest move yesterday in their years-long campaign to undermine the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.\n\n\u201cTheir failed attempt to gain unanimous consent on a so-called Supreme Court ethics bill was yet another attempt to bully the court into ruling the way Democrats want.\n\n\u201cAnd, Mr. President, with decisions in multiple controversial cases coming from the Supreme Court over the next few weeks, I expect this was just the prelude to yet another dramatic Democrat temper tantrum if things don\u2019t go Democrats\u2019 way.\n\n\u201cI say if things don\u2019t go Democrats\u2019 way.\n\n\u201cBecause it\u2019s a funny thing, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cWhen the Supreme Court decides things Democrats\u2019 way, we hear a lot less about the illegitimacy of the court.\n\n\u201cTake the court\u2019s decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd., in which most of the court\u2019s Republican appointees sided with all the court\u2019s Democrat appointees to deliver a decision Democrats supported.\n\n\u201cCongresswoman Maxine Waters, the Democrat ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, had this to say: \u2018With this decision, our nation\u2019s justices have decided to put consumers first and reject the baseless attacks led by extreme MAGA Republicans and greedy payday lenders to hamstring the work of the CFPB and put consumers in harm\u2019s way.\u2019\n\n\u201cOr take the court\u2019s decision in Moore v. Harper, in which half of the court\u2019s Republican appointees sided with the court\u2019s Democrat appointees to deliver a decision that was embraced by the Democrat leader here in the Senate.\n\n\u201c\u2018Today those who support democracy, fair elections, and the rule of law can stand a bit taller,\u2019 the leader said. \u2018Today\u2019s ruling reaffirms the longstanding precedent that respects our constitutional system of checks and balances.\u2019\n\n\u201cFunny how he didn\u2019t mention anything in that statement about how the court has been captured by, in his words, \u2018the fanatical MAGA right.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, I could go on, but all this leads to one inevitable conclusion.\n\n\u201cAnd that is that to Democrats, the only legitimate court, and the only legitimate court decisions, are the ones that line up with Democrats\u2019 policy preferences.\n\n\u201cAnd it has become clear that Democrats are willing to do whatever it takes, up to and including intimidation, delegitimization, and court-packing, to ensure that the court rules in line with where Democrats want it.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t about ethics or legitimacy or concern for our democratic institutions, as Democrats would have you believe.\n\n\u201cThis is about power.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats are apparently perfectly willing to undermine a fundamental part of our system of government for their political ends.\n\n\u201cBecause let\u2019s be very clear, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not the Supreme Court that is undermining the legitimacy of this essential institution; it\u2019s Democrats, with their unhinged campaign against a duly constituted court composed of nine duly confirmed justices nominated by duly elected presidents.\n\n\u201cA court, it\u2019s worth pointing out, that in its last term ruled unanimously \u2013 that\u2019s right, unanimously \u2013 roughly half of the time, and 90 percent of the time \u2013 yes, 90 percent \u2013 had at least one Democrat-appointed justice in the majority.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it would be nice if we could just dismiss Democrats\u2019 hysteria as the tantrums of a party that has discovered that sometimes in a democracy, you don\u2019t get your way.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats\u2019 concerted effort to undermine the legitimacy of the court is deeply troubling because of the widespread consequences it could have.\n\n\u201cThe last thing we should be doing at a time of deep political divisions is to be shaking Americans\u2019 faith in the legitimacy of our institutions and the impartiality of the court.\n\n\u201cDo Democrats really want a public with less faith in its government?\n\n\u201cPerhaps they do, or perhaps they don\u2019t care as long as their policies are ascendant and they can maintain a hold on power.\n\n\u201cBut they should care.\n\n\u201cMr. President, as I said, should things not go entirely Democrats\u2019 way in the coming weeks of Supreme Court decisions, I expect we\u2019ll hear a lot more hysteria about the court\u2019s supposed hijacking and illegitimacy.\n\n\u201cBut I hope the justices, and the American people, will tune it out.\n\n\u201cBecause Democrats\u2019 baseless and irresponsible attempts to delegitimize the court do not deserve to be given the time of day.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:24:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=FF663748-3020-4480-9218-F9159BBD0AFF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7092120833694935, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}