President Joe Biden appeared to call the Supreme Court's legitimacy into question after the Court ruled that the use of race-based affirmative action in university admissions is unconstitutional.
"This is not a normal Court," Biden stated Thursday in response to a reporter who asked if he thought the justices had gone "rogue."
Biden's comments came after he gave a speech criticizing the Supreme Court's ruling. In the case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the Court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer use race-based admissions programs, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing that racial admissions preferences "cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause." The vast majority of Americans, including around 60 percent of Democrats, agree, according to a New York Times poll.
The reporter in her question referenced the Congressional Black Caucus's statement on the ruling, which said the Court "has thrown into question its own legitimacy."
Biden's statement casting doubt on the Court's integrity comes after numerous outlets and academics said that former president Donald Trump threatened democracy and the rule of law in the wake of his indictment.
While Biden has touted his support for the rule of law, he is facing his own legal challenges. In recent days, the president angrily denied knowing of his son Hunter's threatening 2017 texts to a Chinese businessman. Hunter Biden claimed that he was with his father when he wrote the texts, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Two of Hunter Biden's former business partners have said the president was directly involved in negotiations with the Chinese businessman's company.