Biden blasts Supreme Court over $28 million fundraiser with Obama, Clooney and Julia Roberts
LOS ANGELES: President Joe Biden slammed the US Supreme Court, saying it was “not right” at a lavish fundraiser on Saturday in Los Angeles attended by former President Barack Obama and top Hollywood figures that raised 28 millions of dollars.
Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel began by showing a video montage comparing Biden’s achievements to those of his predecessor and current GOP challenger, Donald Trump. He drew cheers from the audience at a packed Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, where guests included Hollywood celebrities George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
Biden, a Democrat who has often condemned specific decisions but resisted an uncompromising attack on the court itself, said Saturday “the Supreme Court has never been more troubled than it is today.”
“The fact is that there has never been a court that has been so far from the norm,” Biden said. He noted that conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said the court, which struck down a half-century-old federal abortion law, should reconsider issues such as in vitro fertilization and contraception.
Trump nominated three of the six conservatives who control the nine-member court. He and Biden are in a tight rematch race ahead of the November 5 election.
Biden said that if Trump is re-elected, he will “probably have two new nominees to the Supreme Court.”
“The idea that if he gets re-elected, he’s going to appoint two more who fly the flags upside down… I think that’s one of the scariest parts,” Biden said.
He was referring to the recent controversy involving Justice Samuel Alito, who allowed flags associated with the movement to reverse Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden – including an upside-down American flag – to fly outside his homes in Virginia and New Jersey.
Democratic lawmakers, citing the flag displays, said Alito should recuse himself from the case involving Trump’s claims of presidential immunity from prosecution on federal criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Since Biden took office, the Court’s conservative majority has also restricted affirmative action, gay rights, gun control and environmental regulation. She blocked the president’s agenda on immigration, student loans, vaccine mandates and climate change.
Obama said that “the power of the Supreme Court depends on elections. “What we are seeing now is a byproduct of 2016,” when Trump was elected. “We hope we have learned our lessons. Because these choices matter.”
“THE LARGEST DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISER”
The Biden campaign had hoped the star-studded event would show strength and dynamism despite Biden’s low approval ratings and concerns about the president’s age, who is 81.
“This will be one of the largest fundraisers we have ever done,” said Ajay Jain Bhutoria, deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee for finance. A Biden campaign spokeswoman said: “$28 million in fundraising for President Biden in Los Angeles – and counting. This is the biggest fundraiser for Democrats in history.”
Biden’s campaign topped a $26 million fundraising event in March generated in New York, during which comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert hosted Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton. The most expensive ticket package for the Los Angeles event costs $500,000, campaign officials said.
Other stars who took the stage at Saturday’s event included Jack Black, Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
In recent weeks, Star Wars’ Mark Hamill appeared in the White House briefing room to praise the president, Robert De Niro appeared in Lower Manhattan for a news conference at the behest of the Biden campaign, and Steven Spielberg helped the Biden campaign with storytelling.
Actor Michael Douglas hosted a fundraiser for the president, and artists Queen Latifah, Lenny Kravitz, Lizzo, James Taylor, Christina Aguilera and Barbra Streisand performed to help Biden raise money.
Biden’s campaign fundraising in April was lower than Trump’s for the first time, after the former president stepped up his joint efforts with the Republican National Committee and became a major focus of high-dollar fundraisers.
Democrats still maintained an overall money advantage over Trump, and Biden’s campaign continues to provide a much larger war chest.
Recent polls show Biden and Trump tied in national polls, while Trump has the edge in battleground states that will decide the election. On economic issues like inflation, Trump has generally performed better with voters than Biden.
Democrats have long counted on the liberal Los Angeles area as a rich source of financial support. Republicans often condemn Democrats across the country as being funded by Hollywood elites and California liberals.
But state donors fund presidential campaigns on both sides of the aisle. Fundraising information filed with the Federal Election Commission shows that both Biden and Trump raised more in the state for their re-election bids than anywhere else.
As of April 30, Biden had raised $24 million in California and Trump had raised $11.7 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.
The president was largely unable to host high-dollar fundraisers in Hollywood for much of 2023 due to industry strikes. But since they were disbanded, Biden has headlined several fundraisers in the state, including one in December that topped $1 million in tickets.