“Build the wall” — a slogan associated with former President Donald Trump and his supporters — is now being repurposed by California Democrats, who say they want to build metaphorical walls via legislation protecting abortion and LGBTQ rights.
“We know we can’t trust the Supreme Court to protect reproductive rights, so California will build a firewall around this right in our state constitution,” Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said Monday night, hours after Politico published a draft U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion suggesting justices are poised to strike down Roe vs. Wade and the federal constitutional right to abortion.
And on Tuesday, Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco announced that lawmakers in 18 other states have introduced or plan to introduce bills modeled on his proposal to provide legal protection for out-of-state families seeking gender-affirming care for their transgender kids.
- Wiener: “We are building a coordinated national legislative campaign by LGBTQ lawmakers — a rainbow wall — to provide refuge for trans kids and their families.”
The two efforts are the latest indication that Democrats may turn to “states’ rights” — a legal argument often invoked by Republicans to challenge federal policies they say encroach on states’ authority to set their own rules — if the U.S. Supreme Court weakens or overturns federal precedents such as Roe vs. Wade.
- We got a preview of that possible future in December, when the nation’s highest court declined to block a Texas law that allows private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.
- Other states immediately started introducing bills modeled on Texas’ law, including California: Democratic lawmakers are advancing a Newsom-backed bill to allow private Californians to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes or sells assault weapons or ghost guns. “If states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts,” Newsom said in December, “then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way.”
- Atkins used similar language on Tuesday: “If you look at the draft opinion, it references states’ rights,” she said. “We are a state and California intends to use its full authority to defend our residents.”
In related news:
- Billionaire Rick Caruso, one of the frontrunners in the Los Angeles mayoral race, pledged to donate $1 million to support a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights if lawmakers place it on the November ballot — but is facing criticism for past donations to politicians who oppose abortion.
- An anti-abortion activist was arrested after scaling San Francisco’s 1,070-foot Salesforce Tower.
- California LGBTQ activists and legal scholars told the San Francisco Chronicle they fear the draft opinion, if made final, could pave the way for other rulings overturning federal protections for gay marriage and sex.
- Hundreds of people rallied in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities across the state Tuesday night to protest the potential rollback of abortion rights.
