It’s been two months and Mike Pence is still throwing his toys out of the pram over the Supreme Court’s historic LGBT+ ruling
Mike Pence helped enact the ban on trans people in the military. (Alex Wong/Getty)
US vice president Mike Pence has slammed June’s historic Supreme Court ruling that made it illegal to fire workers for being gay or transgender as “a disappointment to conservatives”.
Pence named the court’s top judge, the conservative chief justice John Roberts, in a rare direct rebuke on Wednesday, 5 August, during an interview with Christian Broadcast Network.
The Supreme Court has ruled against Donald Trump’s administration several times this year, including the historic verdict that said employers can’t fire workers for being LGBT+, upholding Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and striking down an abortion law in Louisiana.
“Look, we have great respect for the institution of the Supreme Court of the United States, but chief justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives,” said Mike Pence.
“I think several cases out of the Supreme Court are a reminder of just how important this election is for the future of the Supreme Court,” Pence continued.
“We remember the issue back in 2016, which I believe loomed large in voters’ decisions between Hillary Clinton and the man who became president of the United States.”
Mike Pence, who has previously urged voters to re-elect Trump to “get more conservatives on Supreme Court“, also commented on the recent ruling that struck down Louisiana’s abortion law, in which Roberts sided with liberal judges to rule that the state’s efforts to restrict access to abortion was unconstitutional.
This, Pence said, should be “a wake up call for pro-life voters around the country who understand in a very real sense that the destiny of the Supreme Court is on the ballot in 2020”.
This is the first time that Pence or Trump have explicitly called out Roberts for ruling against the administration.
Roberts, who was appointed by then-president George W Bush in 2005 and then confirmed by the Senate in a 78-22 vote, sided with the majority in June’s 6-3 ruling to protect LGBT+ workers.
