Throughout the day on Wednesday, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was criticized for remarks he had made outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. that appeared to be an attack on Supreme Court Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Schumer declared. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
After a statement issued by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts condemning Schumer’s remarks, and another from Schumer’s office pushing back against Roberts’ rebuttal, Schumer walked the comments back on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
During a conference call with the media on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) described Schumer’s remarks as “inappropriate.”
“I thought he clearly got carried away,” Jones said to Yellowhammer News when asked about Schumer’s remarks. “I thought his comments were inappropriate, as he said today on the Senate floor. They were quite inappropriate. The thing about it, people who know Chuck know he was not threatening violence of any type. But his words were not the words he should have said and were certainly inappropriate. He walked those back.”
Jones added that he was concerned more broadly with the attacks on the federal judicial branch, including from President Donald Trump.
“But I will tell you, Jeff, I’m concerned about the attacks on the judiciary in general,” he stated. “The president has made various attacks — not in the same way — but he has made various attacks on the independence of the judiciary. He has also called folks out by name, and we’re getting into a situation where I’m just not from a constitutional standpoint very happy with anybody who starts doing what they say that appears to be an attack on the independence of the judiciary.”
“So, I’m glad he walked those comments back,” Jones added.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.
