MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Interview

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O`DONNELL: After today`s oral arguments at the Supreme Court, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor tweeted: One by one, the Republican-appointed justices came before the Senate and promised they`d respect precedent. They`d respect settled law. Well, Roe vs. Wade has been law for nearly 50 years, so let`s see that respect. But we can`t wait. We must end the filibuster so we can codify Roe.

Joining us now is Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Thank you very much for joining us on this important night, Senator. We really appreciate it.

I want to go to -- first of all, your reaction to what you heard in the court today.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Well, I was with Justice Sotomayor when she talked about the stench of just making a naked political decision here and what that does ultimately to women. What it does to our rights. And what it does to the authority of the court and the American people`s belief that this is a court that expands rights and this is a court that will protect the American people.

And they just -- they just indicated they`re willing to throw that out the window because they made a promise somehow and back in the -- in the -- before they got nominated, they said one thing in public, always knowing they were going to do this to Roe versus Wade. It looks like that`s where we are today. This is the day it happens.

O`DONNELL: You represent one of the states on which -- in which this decision will have no effect. You represent the state of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts legislature will not allow any kind of changes and restrictions on abortion in your state. And so, this is a decision that if it goes the way, it is apparently going to go will not affect all 50 states. There will be states like New York, Massachusetts, California, many, many, many others where the majority of the population actually is, who won`t be affected at all.

And let`s listen to what Justice Sotomayor said today about the women who will be affected in those Republican controlled states.

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JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, SUPREME COURT: When does the life of a woman and putting her at risk enter the calculus? Meaning, right now, forcing women who are poor, and that`s 75 percent of the population, and much higher percentage of those women in Mississippi, who elect abortions before viability, they are put at a tremendously greater risk of medical complications and ending their life. And now the state is saying to these women, we can choose not only to physically complicate your existence, put you at medical risk, make you poorer.

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O`DONNELL: I didn`t hear a single Republican appointed justice who understood those points.

WARREN: Yeah. You know, that is part of the point, is that when abortion is outlawed in these states and we know that we got 20 states with their toes right on the line ready to end abortion as soon as the Supreme Court says that it will permit it. But we know who`s going to fall hardest on.

It`s not going to fall on the women who have means. It`s not going to fall on the women who can buy a plane ticket and go to New York or Massachusetts or California. It`s not going to fall on those women.

It`s going to fall on the women who are poor. It`s going to fall on the women who already have children and can`t leave. It`s going o fall on women working three jobs. It`s going to fall on young, young girls who have been molested and may not even know they`re pregnant until deep into the pregnancy. That is who this will fall on.

This is not only taking away a woman`s right to make a decision. This is taking away a woman`s right to continue to build a future for herself.

O`DONNELL: You could convert the Supreme Court opinion Roe vs. Wade into the federal statute passed by perhaps Elizabeth Warren leading it through the Senate. What are the prospects of that?

WARREN: It is a filibuster problem. So look. We`ve got the Women`s Health Protection Act that just says as a matter of federal law the decision to continue a pregnancy is a woman`s decision. She can consult with anyone she wants to. She can consult with her mother, with her partner. She can consult with her doctor, with her priest, with her rabbi.

But it is not up to the state, it is not up to the government to come in and interfere in that decision. We`ve gotten it through the House. I believe we could pass it in the Senate but we can`t get 60 votes to get past a filibuster.

This is one more time when we see the filibuster blocking the will of the majority. You know, anything that enjoys support across this nation at the level of 70 percent to 80 percent is something we ought to be able to bring to the floor of the United States Senate and vote on it.

And I believe what would happen is the rule of Roe would then be the rule not just in Massachusetts or California or New York. It would be the rule all across the country. We`ve got to get rid of the filibuster.

O`DONNELL: And we heard Brett Kavanaugh say today that if you did that the Supreme Court would absolutely uphold it. He said it is absolutely constitutional for Congress to pass such a law, for any of the states who already have their own laws protecting abortion rights.

What you are proposing is something that Brett Kavanaugh has said the Supreme Court would completely go along with.

WARREN: Right. But it is the reminder isn`t it of the price we`re paying right now for this technical rule in the United States Senate that keeps us from being able to move forward.

And so now we can just start down the list. We need to pass voting rights. We need more laws around gun safety. We need a law around immigration, right and a path to citizenship for millions of people in this country. And we need a law to protect the right of a woman to make her own decision about whether or not to continue a pregnancy.

And the filibuster is blocking us, blocking us, blocking us, blocking us. It`s got to stop.

O`DONNELL: Senator Elizabeth Warren, thank you very much for joining us on this important night.

WARREN: Thank you.

O`DONNELL: Thank you.

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