-Welcome back to "Late Night."
We're here with Senator Elizabeth Warren.
You are a former Harvard law professor.
How would you grade the legal argument that was presented
for overturning Roe v. Wade?
-Oh, bad. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-But, you know, I want to say bad not just --
-Real quick before we go on, were you a tough grader?
-Yeah. -Yeah? Okay.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-So just know if she gives it an F, Clarence Thomas,
it's probably a D from somebody else.
-But it's still a D. -Okay, yeah.
-It's still bad.
Here's what really -- one of the things that really troubles me
about the way this opinion was written.
You know, when you're out there to change something
that has been precedent for half a century, you would expect to
read an opinion that really is as grounded in law as you could
possibly make it, that talks about the restrictions,
what you can't do,
and ultimately really tries to persuade.
This opinion doesn't do any of that.
This opinion basically cites a bunch of folks from the 1700s
and says, "Boy, that's the way we want to go."
Oh, I'm sorry. To a time when aristocrats ran
the world, when the only people who had voices were white men,
and when slavery was a way for people to make money.
That's not the America we're trying to build going forward.
And the fact that this opinion was just such an in-your-face
about people who are truly going to be hurt from it,
people whose lives are going to be turned upside down,
people who are poor, who are not going to have
the opportunity to leave and get to another state,
women of color who already have
the highest maternal mortality rates,
14-year-olds who have been raped by their coaches,
mamas who are already working three jobs to try
to take care of the families they've got.
This opinion had nothing about the human impact of what
it means to take away the decision that a woman
makes about continuing a pregnancy and to insert
instead the government just to come in callously
and makes the decision instead of the person who is pregnant.
It troubles me to think how six people could say they have
seized power and care so little
about the people who will pay the price.
-You know, there's been a lot of talk about the steps you could
take to maybe change the direction of the court,
things like stacking the court, things like term limits.
We talked about abolishing the filibuster.
These are things that when they're brought up,
oftentimes people categorize as extremist positions.
I certainly understand they sound extreme.
Do you think that as people watch the court
take such extreme steps and make decisions that roll back
precedent 50 years, do you think those extreme steps
seem less extreme to people now?
-I think that that what we're watching is how many more people
see this as an extremist court and see the kind of conditions
that this tiny group of radicals are trying to impose on
the rest of the country and the kind of threat they pose
to all of us with a decision on guns,
with a decision on abortion, with a decision on climate.
Now, I think that means the first thing we have to do is
remind ourselves the Supreme Court
doesn't get the final word.
The final word rests with we, the people.
And that's why it's so important at this moment to be angry
but to be focused in on that election in November.
Two senators hang on to the house.
-You're making it very easy to follow.
-And we've got this.
But it's so important because, Seth, understand this,
if we don't do that, they've already told us the direction
they're headed in.
They're not stopping at Roe.
You didn't hear them at the end of this say,
"Oh, we got Roe, the climate, and guns. We're done."
No. Clarence Thomas already said,
"We're coming after the LGBTQ community.
We are coming after contraception.
We are coming after what people do in the privacy
of their own homes and their intimate and family lives."
They are coming after the things we hold dear.
And when you connect that up with what's happened
with the January 6th insurrection,
it's not an exaggeration to say our democracy is truly at stake.
If the Republicans can seize power, they have made it clear
that they stand behind Donald Trump,
who wanted to be a dictator,
tried really hard to get there and got really close.
What scares me is next time around they're going to
figure out how to succeed at that.
And that's why what we do in November is so important.
-I want to try to end on a little bit more optimism.
We've got the 4th of July coming.
Are you at least going to give yourself a break and barbecue?
-You know, a little barbecue, a little hiking.
-Oh, wow.
-But you got to be back in the fight the next day.
-Yeah. -Sorry.
That's how everything turns, right?
-Seems like 24 hours is about all the time
you'll give anybody to do anything. Yeah.
-Yeah, that's -- -That's not fighting.
[ Laughter ]
Hey, thank you so much for being here, Senator.
It's always a pleasure. -So good to see you.
-Senator Elizabeth Warren, everybody.
We'll be right back with Cazzie David.