Democratic leaders urged to restrict Supreme Court jurisdiction over marriage, abortion
In a letter to Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, 10 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked for support in establishing and protecting nationwide privacy rights that include abortion and marriage equality.
The letter, addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), calls on party leaders to support a push to restrict the U.S.
Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over matters and decisions regarding certain privacy-related rights. “We write to urge your support for restricting the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction in the areas of abortion, marriage equality, non-procreative intimacy and contraception,” the members of Congress wrote. “In doing so, we can ensure that, as Congress takes legislative action to codify each of these fundamental rights, a radical, restless and newly constituted majority on the court cannot further undermine the protections we would enact.” Although Congress cannot remove the Supreme Court from cases falling under its original jurisdiction, Article III of the Constitution does grant Congress the power to strip the court’s jurisdiction in appellate cases.
Appellate jurisdiction pertains to a court hearing, reversing or amending a lower court’s previous decision on a case. The signatories of the letter to Democratic leadership pointed to instances in which the Supreme Court itself has reaffirmed such congressional power in the past. “Most recently, in Patchak v.
