By Andrea Shalal and Nandita Bose
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -President Joe Biden slammed the U.S. Supreme Court docket as “out of kilter” at a glitzy fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday with former President Barack Obama and prime Hollywood celebrities that has raised $28 million.
Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel started by exhibiting a video montage contrasting Biden’s document with that of his predecessor and present Republican challenger Donald Trump. He drew cheers from the viewers at a packed Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, the place Hollywood celebrities George Clooney and Julia Roberts had been among the many visitors.
Biden, a Democrat who has steadily denounced particular selections however resisted a full-throated assault on the courtroom itself, mentioned on Saturday “the Supreme Court has never been as out of kilter as it is today.”
“The fact of the matter is that there has never been a court that is this far out of step,” Biden mentioned. He famous that conservative Justice Clarence Thomas had mentioned the courtroom, which overturned the half-century-old federal proper to abortion, ought to rethink things like in vitro fertilization and contraception.
Trump nominated three of the six conservatives who management the nine-member courtroom. He and Biden are in a good rematch race for the Nov. 5 election.
If Trump is elected once more, Biden mentioned, he “is likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees.”
“The idea that if he’s reelected he’s going to appoint two more who are flying flags upside down… I think it is one of the scariest parts,” Biden mentioned.
He was referring to a current controversy involving Justice Samuel Alito, who allowed flags related to the motion to reverse Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden – together with an upside-down American flag – to fly outdoors his properties in Virginia and New Jersey.
Democratic lawmakers, citing the flag shows, have mentioned Alito ought to recuse himself from a case involving Trump’s declare of presidential immunity from prosecution on federal prison costs referring to his efforts to overturn the 2020 outcomes.
Since Biden took workplace, the courtroom’s conservative majority has additionally restricted affirmative motion, homosexual rights, gun management and environmental regulation. It has blocked the president’s agenda on immigration, scholar loans, vaccine mandates and local weather change.
Obama mentioned “the power of the Supreme Court is determined by elections. What we’re seeing now is a byproduct of 2016” when Trump was elected. “Hopefully we have learned our lesson. Because these elections matter.”
‘LARGEST DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISER’
The Biden marketing campaign hoped the star-studded occasion would show power and momentum regardless of Biden’s low approval scores and issues concerning the age of the president, who’s 81.
“This will be one of the biggest fundraisers we’ve had,” mentioned Ajay Jain Bhutoria, deputy finance chair on the Democratic Nationwide Committee. A Biden marketing campaign spokeswoman mentioned “$28 mln heading into President Biden’s LA fundraiser – and counting. This is the largest Democratic fundraiser in history.”
The Biden marketing campaign outraised the $26 million a March fundraiser in New York Metropolis generated the place comic and TV host Stephen Colbert hosted Biden, Obama and former President Invoice Clinton. The highest-ticket bundle for the LA occasion prices $500,000, marketing campaign officers mentioned.
Different celebrities who took the stage on the Saturday occasion included Jack Black, Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
In current weeks, Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame made a White Home briefing room look to reward the president, Robert De Niro confirmed up in decrease Manhattan for a press convention on the Biden marketing campaign’s behest and Steven Spielberg has been serving to the Biden marketing campaign with storytelling.
Actor Michael Douglas held a fundraiser for the president and artists Queen Latifah, Lenny Kravitz, Lizzo, James Taylor, Christina Aguilera and Barbra Streisand have all carried out to assist Biden elevate cash.
Biden marketing campaign’s fundraising in April lagged Trump’s for the primary time, after the previous president ramped up his joint operation with the Republican Nationwide Committee and headlined high-dollar fundraisers.
Democrats nonetheless maintained an total money benefit over Trump and the Biden marketing campaign continues to have a significantly bigger struggle chest.
Biden and Trump are tied in nationwide polls with lower than 5 months to go earlier than the election, whereas Trump has the sting within the battleground states that may determine the election, current polls present. On financial points like inflation, Trump scores larger with voters total than Biden.
Democrats have lengthy counted on the liberal Los Angeles space as a wealthy supply of economic backing. Republicans typically decry Democrats nationwide as funded by Hollywood elites and California liberals.
However the state’s donors bankroll presidential campaigns on each side of the aisle. Biden and Trump have each raised extra within the state for his or her reelection bids than wherever else, in line with fundraising disclosures filed with the Federal Election Fee.
Biden raised $24 million by April 30 in California, and Trump $11.7 million, in line with the Federal Election Fee.
The president was largely unable to host high-dollar Hollywood fundraisers for a lot of 2023 due to trade strikes. However since they had been resolved, Biden has headlined a number of fundraisers within the state, together with one in December the place prime tickets approached $1 million.