Mike Pence, who ‘really believes all lives matter’, wants Trump to win so he can appoint more conservative justices
Former vice president Mike Pence. (Joshua Roberts/Getty)
Vice president Mike Pence has called for people to re-elect Donald Trump in order to stack the Supreme Court with more conservatives.
The religious right has seen a string of defeats in high-profile cases before the Supreme Court on LGBT+ discrimination protections and attempts to limit access to abortion.
Mike Pence: Re-elect Trump to ‘get more conservatives on Supreme Court’.
The losses are apparently getting to Pence, who vowed on Tuesday: “After today’s disappointing decision by SCOTUS, one thing is clear: We need more conservative justices on the US Supreme Court.”
The stacking of the Supreme Court with judicial conservatives has been a key goal for the right-wing evangelical lobby in their support for the Trump administration, hoping to overturn the majority that has led to advancements on equal rights.
Vice President Mike Pence (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Addressing a Trump rally in Tulsa after the court ruled in favour of LGBT+ rights earlier this month, Pence vowed: “Joe Biden is making plans to appoint activist judges who will legislate from the bench, but next week, president Trump will appoint his 200th judge to our federal courts, all conservative jurists who are upholding the God-given liberties enshrined in our constitution, like the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and the second amendment right to keep and bear arms.
“With four more years, this president will appoint even more judges. And like we learned this past week, we need more conservative justices on the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Vice president insists that ‘all lives matter’ when asked to say ‘Black Lives Matter’.
Elsewhere this week, the vice president refused to utter the phrase “Black Lives Matter” during a TV interview.
Asked in an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday if he would say the phrase, Pence rambled: “I cherish the progress that we have made toward a more perfect union for African Americans throughout our history, and I’ve aspired throughout my career to be a part of that ongoing work. It’s really a heart issue for me… and as a pro-life American, I also believe that all life matters, born and unborn.
“But what I see in the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement is a political agenda of the radical left that would defund the police, that would tear down monuments, that would press a radical left agenda that, and support calls for the kind of violence that has beset the very communities that they say that they’re advocating for…”
Asked again if he would simply affirm that the lives of Black people matter, Pence replied: “I really believe that all lives matter, and that’s where the heart of the American people lies.”
