A Democratic senator cited Laura Ingraham during his questioning of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for her Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
Senator Sheldon White House of Rhode Island cited the Fox News host’s interview with Senator Ted Cruz when discussing money spent by conservative groups in an effort to confirm conservative justices.
The interview occurred in December when Ms Ingraham called for the Senate to circumscribe the court’s power if it failed to rule the way conservatives wanted when it came to overturning Roe v Wade.
The quote came in December in an interview with Mr Cruz in December as the Supreme Court was hearing arguments about Mississippi’s abortion law which restricts abortion to 15 weeks.
“If we have six Republican appointees on this court, after all the money that has been raised, the Federalist Society, all these big fat cat dinners – I'm sorry, I'm pissed about this. If this court with six justices cannot do the right thing here, the constitutional thing, then I think it's time to do what Robert Bork said we should do,” she said, referencing the former judge and solicitor general Robert Bork, whose own nomination to the Supreme Court failed. “Which is to circumscribe the jurisdiction of this court and if they wanna blow it up, then that's the way to change things finally. Because this can't stand. This is insane.”
In response, Mr Cruz said he would want to circumscribe the power of the Supreme Court, which would mean to severely weaken the power of the court.
“I would do that in a heartbeat,” Mr Cruz said at the time. “As you know the Constitution gives Congress the authority to restrict the jurisdiction of the court. I think we should do that.”
Mr Whitehouse made the remarks when discussing the influence of influential conservative groups like the Federalist Society, the major conservative legal organisation that was influential in confirming conservative jurists.
“That’s pretty big talk, but it’s backed up by pretty big dollars,” he said.
Mr Whitehouse has frequently discussed the influence of right-wing organisations in judicial nominations when giving floor speeches.
