On Saturday, President Joe Biden signed into law a modest gun control bill in the only developed nation where mass shootings happen on a regular basis. It was done with bipartisan cooperation, with help from two Republicans, including Texas senator John Cornyn. Cornyn received backlash from extremists in his party, which may be why he took to Twitter for a bizarre post about segregation.
Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education. https://t.co/hrUYCcIq8Y
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 25, 2022
Cornyn was responding to a tweet from Barack Obama, in which the former president railed against the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, thus reversing “nearly 50 years of precedent.” Cornyn quote-tweeted that, writing “Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education.”
Plessy v. Ferguson, which is widely considered one of the worst rulings in Supreme Court history, ruled in 1896 that segregation did not violate the Constitution. It has never been formally overruled, but it was severely weakened by Board v. Board of Education, which eliminated segregation in the nation’s schools in 1954.
So what on earth did Cornyn mean? Was he suggesting that the right-leaning Supreme Court — one of whom, Clarence Thomas, suggested they go after rulings pertaining to contraceptives, same-sex marriage, same-sex coupling, and more — tackle bills involving segregation? Was it some kind of joke? Cornyn later attempted to clarify, but not that much, writing simply and cryptically, “Thank goodness some SCOTUS precedents are overruled.” (Again, Plessy v. Ferguson has never been officially overruled.)
Thank goodness some SCOTUS precedents are overruled. https://t.co/x7iwzm4lto
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 25, 2022
Cornyn’s initial tweet was widely condemned for being at best poorly worded and at worst…well, you can see:
Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education. https://t.co/hrUYCcIq8Y
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 25, 2022
You miss this sort of thing? pic.twitter.com/5bI16SiXHm
— Tom Mallory
(@tom_mallory) June 25, 2022
This is the True Face of White America. This isn't fringe. This isn't the Klan. This is mainstream. This is the type of Racist POS talk you can hear all over this country from "everyday, hard-working, and church-going" white people, especially in the small towns and suburbs. https://t.co/t4rt1ZK1C4
— Jonathan the Grey (@HANSEN_SOGROOVY) June 25, 2022
I understand that you think you're trying to be "fair" to him, but you need to understand that he's counting on that otherwise noble impulse to let him skate away with saying some plainly racist shit.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) June 25, 2022
Senator John Cornyn longing for the return of segregation, and Mary “White Life” Miller simply reaffirmed what communities of color have known forever — it’s always been about race. Always.
— Lakota Man (@LakotaMan1) June 26, 2022
People are doing the devil’s work for him. Cornyn wrote it this way on purpose. He’s simultaneously playing to the base (that recently booed him) & pretending he’s making a (spurious) legal argument. Don’t be the devil’s advocate. Let the devil do his own work. https://t.co/mmG3ddK4Hi
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) June 26, 2022
Deleted a tweet about this because I don’t want to misinterpret @JohnCornyn, but it would behoove him to explain what he meant by this strange tweet to America’s first black president about cases that ended racial segregation in schools pic.twitter.com/mLqqeULqiS
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 25, 2022
A sitting Republican Senator just asked the Supreme Court to reconsider Brown v. Board of Education.
— Santiago Mayer (@santiagomayer_) June 25, 2022
Cornyn, who tweets a lot and hasn’t deleted this one in particular, was dragged earlier this year for complaining that Biden doesn’t tweet enough.
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