Harold Hutchison, DCNF

A Democratic congresswoman claimed Monday that the Supreme Court’s decision on the Environmental Protection Agency’s statutory powers in June posed a “threat” to the planet.

“The current court is a threat not just to our country, and not just to our democracy, but to our planet, because last month climate change, which is the single greatest existential threat to our planet, the court crippled the administration’s ability to mitigate, to address, think forwardly and remediate,” Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey said during a press event calling for the expansion of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency exceeded its authority when it tried to enact the Clean Power Plan in June, one of several rulings that were victories for conservatives. The rulings included the high court overturning Roe v. Wade and a decision that struck down New York’s requirement that applicants for a concealed carry permit show “good cause” to carry a gun.

“A month ago, reactionaries – reactionaries in robes – decided we don’t have constitutional rights to an abortion,” Coleman said. “In so doing, they showed us they are willing to eliminate our freedoms to make a decision about our own bodies. The Dobbs v. [Jackson] Women’s Health [Organization] decision imposes the will of five unelected religious extremists upon nearly 330 million people.”

“In one month, it declared gun violence prevention legislation unconstitutional, rolled back Miranda rights and weakened the separation of church and state,” Coleman said.

Liberals and some Democratic lawmakers called for the expansion of the Supreme Court in the wake of the rulings, a move supported by a majority of Democrats, according to a poll released Tuesday. Legislation to expand the Supreme Court was introduced in the House and Senate.

Coleman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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