Nevada Republican caught on tape ranting Roe was 'sad' and 'a joke' that led to other bad laws
The Nevada Independent caught Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt on tape during a political event promoting his campaign for U.S. Senate.
According to the GOP lawyer, the decision by the Supreme Court to restrict privacy rights for women by allowing states to make their own rules, was the right move. According to him, the Roe v. Wade precedent was "a joke" and "sad." He then implied that freedom led to many other bad decisions.
“Roe v. Wade was always a joke. It was a total, complete invention,” Laxalt said in the audio. “It has created decades and decades of political turmoil. Not to mention, the most important thing that it allowed across the country. So, I think its return back to the states is important.”
A statewide survey from Nevada Public Opinion Pulse (NVPOP) in 2021 showed that registered Nevada voters consider themselves pro-choice. Just 31 percent said that they consider themselves "pro-life." Even those who identified as "pro-life" said to the tune of 62 percent that they believed that abortion should be "legal in some cases." Only 26 percent said it should be illegal across the board.
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Despite what he said to the pancake breakfast, Laxalt tweeted after the ruling saying that Nevada's laws on abortion are "settled law." The problem with the phrase, however, is that the same words, "settled law" doesn't mean that Laxalt wouldn't eliminate the law at the first opportunity.
\u201cMy statement regarding the Supreme Court\u2019s decision overturning Roe v. Wade:\u201d— Adam Paul Laxalt (@Adam Paul Laxalt) 1656085894
As Columbia University law professor Katherine Franke told the Guardian, even if judicial nominees claimed Roe was “settled law,” “What it means is that that’s a decision from the Supreme Court, and I acknowledge that it exists. But it doesn’t carry any kind of significance beyond that.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) is the incumbent that Laxalt is trying to remove and the race has been named as one of the top possible wins for Republicans in the country. The conservative RealClearPolitics called the seat a "toss-up."