By Kevin Daley, Whitney Tipton and Shelby Talcott
Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders promised Thursday night to apply a pro-choice litmus test when deciding on nominees for the Supreme Court.
Sanders’ commitment came during the Democratic presidential debate in Miami, Florida, as moderator Rachel Maddow asked how he will protect abortion access from the Supreme Court’s newly entrenched conservative majority.
“Let me make a promise here — you ask about litmus tests,” Sanders said. “My litmus test is I will never appoint any justice to the Supreme Court unless that justice is 100 percent clear he or she will defend Roe vs. Wade.”
Thursday night’s debate featured Democratic presidential candidates Michael Bennet, Joseph Biden, Peter Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Bernard Sanders, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang.
“I do not believe in packing the Court,” he added.
President Donald Trump’s judicial confirmation successes have prompted many Democratic presidential contenders to entertain structural reforms to the federal judiciary. Half of the Democratic presidential field has said they would consider expanding the Supreme Court to dilute conservative power on the bench. Others say they will consider less dramatic changes like term limits.
Speaking to The New York Times, Sanders noted that President Franklin Roosevelt advanced a plan to expand the Supreme Court after the conservative majority of his period struck down much of his domestic economic agenda as unconstitutional. That proposal elicited strong opposition from Congress, the public, and his own party.
“Roosevelt tried that in the 1930s,” Sanders said. “It didn’t work so well for him. Packing the courts is a great idea when you’re in power, not such a great idea when you’re political opponents are in power.”
“I am open to the idea of rotating judges out of the Supreme Court into courts of appeal to allow them to get a new look at the real world,” Sanders added in his remarks to the Times.
Other Democratic candidates have committed to a pro-abortion litmus test for their judicial nominees, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
Sanders says assault weapons ‘come from the military’ and should be illegal
On guns, Sanders said assault weapons are “weapons from the military” that should not be legal to purchase.
Sanders was asked by MSNBC debate moderator Rachel Maddow if he still felt states should make decisions about gun regulations, implying that he had changed his position over his years.
“We have a gun crisis right now 40,000 people a year are getting killed,” Sanders said. “In 1988, when it wasn’t popular, I ran on a platform of banning assault weapons.”
“I believe what we need is comprehensive gun legislation that, among other things, provides universal background checks, we end the gun show loophole, we end the straw man provision,” Sanders continued.
“I believed in 1988 and I believe today that assault weapons are weapons from the military that should not be on the streets of America.”
“If the government wants to do that, then yes,” Sanders replied when pressed by Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell on how he planned to get rid of assault weapons.
Middle class will pay more in taxes under a Sanders administration
Sanders opened up the debate with a question on taxes, which he first answered by talking about Medicare. After his answer, the moderator asked him again to answer the question about taxes. He admitted that under his presidency, the middle class would pay more in taxes.
“Under that system, by the way, vast majority of the people in this country would be paying significantly less for health care than they are right now,” Sanders said at first. “I believe that education is the future for this country.”
When the moderator asked him to answer “the very direct question,” Sanders conceded.
“Yes, they will pay more in taxes and less in health care for what they get,” Sanders said Thursday night.
Sanders has run a campaign based on Democratic socialism, and has said that there would be “Medicare-for-all” for illegal immigrants.
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Since “Assault weapons” have selector switches which allow them to fire in a full automatic mode (in other words like a machine gun) they have been effectively banned since FDR signed the National Firearms Bill in 1934. ATF knows who owns every one of the legally held ones and where they are. Now if you redefine “assault weapon” as something with a scary looking black plastic stock, It will still be legal for me to keep my Ruger Mini 14. But if you define it as any military style weapon, then I guess I have to turn in my 2nd model Brown Bess, M-1769. But Bernie couldn’t get the Democratic nomination if he didn’t say stuff like this.
Well Said !!
Have you ever seen the feed for the democratic socialists on facebook? It’s disturbingly excellent, very well done propaganda.
This video talks about some of the guys who ran Bernie’s 2016 campaign for president, who now are behind AOC and the Justice Democrats…..these organizations pop up like ground hogs in spring. We’ve got our own, in 2015 Rights and Democracy was formed with the help of South Side of Chicago Organizers and recently others from the Carolina’s….
This video is pretty enlightening….very much so on who is in Bernie’s inner circle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h5iv6sECGU&feature=youtu.be
Thanks for posting the video link for The brainless behind the brain dead and not surprisingly more than one has ties to the Burnmeister.
Poor Bernie. His rhetoric needle is stuck and has been for 40 years.
Bernie the babbling idiot. I’m tired of commenting on this mouth runner. I will say that he backed gun owners when he ran for his 1st term and that’s what got him elected. If Peter Smith hadn’t turned on gun owners back then, he would still be our Senator. What a mistake we made.
Let’s not make it again..
Give Sanders another week when he’s in front of a different group of people he’ll be chanting something different. He reminds me of Jesse Jackson the man literally changes his stance, voice and language depending on who he is talking to. This guy is a fake. Sorry Bernie you should have stayed home in Vermont where you have the population brain washed, instead you waded out into deeper waters where your cult membership isn’t so good.
My question for Bernie Sanders is,
“What study of history gives him such confidence that assault weapons only in the hands of soldiers of the state can do no harm? Does history show that soldiers of the state are so harmless that the deterrent to abuse of such power should be outlawed?”
Bernie Sanders is either mentally ill or extremely ignorant. My take is the former and his deranged view is very much the result of his lust for more and more power. He is extremely inconsistent in his application of his own ideas. The only consistent thread is using anything he can to advocate that the state acquire more and more power, and his push to be in control of all that massive power.
Bernie Sanders is a clear display of why the founders set up a very limited government, with as many checks as they could think of, including the right to bear arms to protect against a government gone mad.
Far less innocent people have been killed by citizens with the right to own fire arms than by soldiers of a state. Not even remotely close. Sanders is insane!
Folks, all this concern about Bernie’s take on guns. Is anyone listening? He’s also talking about RAISING taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He’s always been about raising taxes,everything he postulates or purposes involves raising taxes.
The sad part is the candidates are trying to out Bernie the Burnmeister,all of which would bring ruin to this nation.
Jim, we all know Socialist Sanders stance on Taxes, nothing is free and if your
a taxpayer hold on !!
All the verbiage about guns is Bernie’s new stance ” against guns ” VT guns owners
got this Buffoon elected in the first place ” A Mistake ”
He’s just a puppet siding with the DNC, he’s not a Dem….. he is a fool.
The government can not control you until you are disarmed. When the government is afraid of the people, freedom happens. We will keep it that way!
Serious question. Please no haters for once. I’m really interested in legit views. Why the need for assault weapons as protection? Isn’t it overkill? And it’s certainly unneccesary for hunting, true?
Why don’t you learn about firearms on your own without listening to the choir. Assault weapon is a made up term for gun grabbers. AR15 stands for Armalite Rifle not assault rifle. How do you know that you are not being lied to if you never look for your own answers? A hammer or baseball bat can be an assault weapon if you assault someone with either one. My fist is an assault weapon if I use it to assault anyone. I do not mean to be harsh but if you found this website there are thousands of other in which you could learn the truth about firearms and there use an an important tool to prevent crime. The country is full of responsible gun owners and we take the 2nd amendment very seriously.
Just asking for personal opinions. Sorry to offend. But thank you for your advice, Dano.
I don’t think that any offence was taken, Dano. The writer is simply stating facts and encouraging you to educate yourself about firearms rather than following the media meme without questioning the message. Guns also Save lives and in far greater numbers than lives lost. You can verify this yourself based on Govt. studies made by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) or FBI. The final decision is yours. Please make it an informed choice. And thank you for asking.
Biskit Stephans, My reply was actually meant for you. I incorrectly addressed it to Dano. Apologies to both.
Thank you for your respectful comments, M.D.
Nothing you said makes any sense. Since you seem to believe the Second Amendment is about hunting, it’s obvious you’re not interested in learning anything either. Why the need for people who understand nothing about weapons to lecture anybody about ‘overkill’?
No need to be so defensive, Mr Cunningham. I was only asking for personal opinions on the subject not lecturing anyone. Just a question, no offense meant.
You absolutely did not ask for opinions – you stated yours.
‘Why the need …’ ‘Isn’t it overkill?’ ‘certainly unneccesary for hunting, true?’
Here’s a question – why do newcomers to this state feel the need to dictate to the rest of us who’ve been quite fine with our rights for centuries? You’ll find we won’t roll over as quietly as some of our New England neighbors.
Mr. Cunningham: Actually when I use “?”, that means “question” which is what I did; asked a question. I even use the word question and mention I am asking for other views. I also nicely asked for no haters so feel free to not respond. Thank you.
It’s a very slow, intentional, planned control of our wonderful little republic….ignorantly disguised under the umbrella of a democracy, which is a transitional form of government that goes to oligarchy (which could be argued is our current form). Power, money and control….
Small state, they’ve been shipping them in as Astro Turf organizations for decades now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VogzExP3qhI
The innocent questions about gun control and climate change have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with their stated premise of safety and environment, which if the conservatives of Vermont exposed them for the charade they and their causes are, the house of cards would collapse. It’s very difficult to determine, rino and conservative in this state. Others “trigger” the indoctrinated thereby losing any chance of winning their Vote. Vermont has the wonderful and unique advantage of turning this country around, it we can do it in Vermont, we can do it anywhere. The Basics….the foundation of Western Civilization…
I’d rather live in no other country than the United States, there is no other that compares in ideology, freedom, prosperity and peace. She his worthy of defense, worth of study, love and protection.
Perhaps the reason millions are here Illegally.
Serious question – please no haters. Why do liberals want to disarm law-abiding citizens? Why do they believe the population should live in a police state, where only high school graduates possess a badge and ‘weapons of war’?
Only serious answers please – I used a ‘?’, so that means I’m asking a question.
Personally I’ve never known anyone who wants to take away all guns from all law-abiding citizens. That’s something I only hear from angry conservatives. Much like scared liberals who claim all conservatives want guns for everyone; no waiting, no background checks; mentally-ill, criminals, violent offenders included. (I like to hope that isn’t true at least.) I think it would be best if we could all come together for a real common-sense solution instead of going back and forth on every single issue making no progress at all until the end of time. Forgive me though, I’m a dreamer.
No Hate just facts and truth.
As to why any one may want a semi auto firearm and rifle in particular as to why, I’ll let a judge in a recent ruling speak as he did so very eloquently .
Federal District Court Roger T. Benitez issued an order staying enforcement of the judgment in the NRA and CRPA supported case of Duncan v. Becerra.
Benitez wrote:
In one year in California (2017), a population of 39 million people endured 56,609 robberies, 105,391 aggravated assaults, and 95,942 residential burglaries. There were also 423 homicides in victims’ residences. There were no mass shootings in 2017. Nationally, the first study to assess the prevalence of defensive gun use estimated that there are 2.2 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses by civilians each year. Of those, 340,000 to 400,000 defensive gun uses were situations where defenders believed that they had almost certainly saved a life by using the gun. Citizens often use a gun to defend against criminal attack…
“Fortunately, the Second Amendment protects a person’s right to keep and bear firearms,” the judge continued. “At the core of the Second Amendment is a citizen’s right to have in his and her home for self-defense common firearms. As evidenced by California’s own crime statistics, the need to protect one’s self and family from criminals in one’s home has not abated no matter how hard they try. Law enforcement cannot protect everyone.”
included an excellently-written, compelling introduction highlighting the need of citizens for these magazines.
” As two masked and armed men broke in, Susan Gonzalez was shot in the chest. She made it back to her bedroom and found her husband’s .22 caliber pistol. Wasting the first rounds on warning shots, she then emptied the single pistol at one attacker. ”
” Unfortunately, now out of ammunition, she was shot again by the other armed attacker. She was not able to re-load or use a second gun. Both she and her husband were shot twice. Forty-two bullets in all were fired. The gunman fled from the house—but returned. He put his gun to Susan Gonzalez’s head and demanded the keys to the couple’s truck.”
” When three armed intruders carrying what look like semi-automatic pistols broke into the home of a single woman at 3:44 a.m., she dialed 911. No answer. Feng Zhu Chen, dressed in pajamas, held a phone in one hand and took up her pistol in the other and began shooting. She fired numerous shots. She had no place to carry an extra magazine and no way to reload because her left hand held the phone with which she was still trying to call 911. After the shooting was over and two of the armed suspects got away and one lay dead, she did get through to the police. The home security camera video is dramatic.”
“A mother, Melinda Herman, and her nine-year-old twins were at home when an intruder broke in. She and her twins retreated to an upstairs crawl space and hid. Fortunately, she had a .38 caliber revolver. She would need it. The intruder worked his way upstairs, broke through a locked bedroom door and a locked bathroom door, and opened the crawl space door. The family was cornered with no place to run. He stood staring at her and her two children. The mother shot six times, hitting the intruder five times, when she ran out of ammunition. Though injured, the intruder was not incapacitated. Fortunately, he decided to flee.”
http://michellawyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Duncan-2019-03-29-Order-Granting-Plaintiffs-MSJ.pdf
Everyone should read the entire decision.
You used the word unnecessary,in a free society what is necessary or not is up to each citizen not the government or some other approving entity,Liberty is a responsibility of each citizen. You will notice that the founders wrote a document entitled,the Bill Of Rights not bill of needs.
A slight bit of humor to help explain the so misunderstood 2 nd. amendment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51clP7JRqv8
It’s all about hunting people,I’m as serious as scurvy.
The 2nd. does not mention one word about hunting,as that at the time of it’s writing was a given,it’s a invention of a more recent generation that came from the 1968 GCA,to sell the term sporting purpose.
That term is still used to this very day to prohibit the importation of many semi auto firearms.
Sorry for the length of the reply but you asked Biskit
J McCandles, thank you so much for your comments. I greatly appreciate the time you took and respect you’ve shown. You have given valid reasons. Thank you for the links as well.
Biskit
You are welcome,I might suggest some further study on the subject and our founding documents as well.
The Declaration
http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/
The Constitution; read a couple of pages from it each day.
https://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
The Federalist Papers; which were written by many of the founders,to sell the 13 states on the idea of a Constitution,prior to that we were governed by the Articles of Confederation,the one we currently are supposed to live under.
https://thefederalistpapers.org/
The Embarrassing Second Amendment; Witten by a more recent author but explains the 2 nd. amendment as Madison penned it and the founders meant it to be and how it has been regulated to a second class right sine the turn of the last century.
The Embarrassing Second AmendmentSanford Levinson
University of Texas at Austin School of Law
http://constitution.org/mil/embar2nd.htm
Study of the founding documents shouldn’t end with the graduation of high school though for many it does and I doubt that current students are even instructed in US history or civics.
I wish or hope two things: Mary Teachout, Superior Judge presiding over the magazine ban lawsuit in Vermont, has an opportunity to read your comment. I have previously read the case from California above.
Second, if there is a way to see that the judge gets this comment, I’m hoping someone out there can get it to her to read.
Thank you for your comment!
Assault Rifles are not allowed without special permits. An AR-15 is not a “Assault Weapon” it’s a light weight easily maneuverable rifle that can be easily handled by anyone, teen. women. Older person. and will, perform well against multiple assailants.
With the Leftarded demontwits hell bent on making criminals history a thing of the past
They are only encouraging more “Team” robberies like happen in the Demoncrat
strongholds. This weapon will be a equalizer when equipped with high capacity
Magazines. Most people under pressure are going to need lots of bullets to make a few hits.
Above was for Biskit S’s question,
DBean, thank you for your opinion.
On guns, Sanders said .”assault weapons are “weapons from the military” that should not be legal to purchase.”
Ah the Burnmeister being dis ingenues ,nothing new for the Marxist.
Assault weapons those with the capability of full automatic fire,are very heavily regulated since 1934 NFA ,when the government violated the 2 nd. amendment as they were expressly forbidden from doing.
What the Burnmeister is referring to is every day semi automatics which make up the majority of small arms in the U S today,be they handguns,rifles or shotguns.
Perhaps in the cause of freedom and liberty in the republic it would be more fruitful to just ban Marxists and Marxism as Marxism has failed every where it’s been tried and cost millions of lives.
I am from Vermont….I will not vote for Sanders….I do not want a Socialist State or Country……Sorry, My Vote is for President Trump.
There are many of us who think you are right and will do the same. No need to be sorry. When the truth finally comes out about what the Obama administration has done to this president along with his minions, President Trump will win in a landslide. The USA will not stand for socialism, ever!
I don’t know what ‘assault weapons’ are – mine are all defensive weapons. And no jack-booted thug will ever see them.