There are three co-equal branches of government for a reason, and when lawmakers don't like how the Supreme Court rules, it's up to them to find legislative solutions rather than to try to rein in the justices, as some Democrats are calling for after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Rep. Michael Burgess said on Newsmax Friday.
"That was [what] Chief Justice John Roberts pointed out after the famous rulings on healthcare that I disagreed with," the Texas Republican said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now." "The 2017, 2018 legislative branch could not make those changes and as a consequence ... the ruling stood, but that's the way it is. That's the way our system is.
"I didn't like it at the time, but I would never have advocated for abolishing the Supreme Court or advocating for Justice Roberts to be impeached."
His comments come after New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's call to impeach Justice Clarence Thomas and for Congress to "rein in" the court.
Burgess also took issue with President Joe Biden for criticizing the court and the United States' systems while speaking during the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, this week.
"There was a time when we were not supposed to criticize the president when the president was on foreign shores," he said. "I think it works both ways. I don't think the president should be criticizing our system when he's on foreign shores. There's just something about it that's just unseemly."
The congressman further commented on the court's ruling that pulls back the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency, effectively causing difficulties for the Biden administration's environmental agenda.
"We have been concerned about the extension of the administrative state, the so-called fourth branch of government, the permanent bureaucracy that never changes regardless of who's elected politically," said Burgess.
"There is reason now to hope that again, we could return more to a representative form of government, as was envisioned by our founders on the Fourth of July many, many years ago. I didn't agree with the Supreme Court on the 'remain in Mexico' decision that they made, but again, if that's an executive order and correctly, an executive order can change with the executive."
The EPA ruling, though, says "correctly" that the matter should have remained with the legislative branch, said Burgess.
"If it wants to do those things, it should pass those laws," said Burgess. "If it doesn't, it shouldn't leave it up to the agency. And then it shouldn't be up to a Cabinet secretary, an unelected Cabinet secretary, who just unilaterally changes the law."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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