Roe v. Wade ruling roils politics even further

The political divide in the United States was on display again on Tuesday when 17 members of Congress were arrested outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, for protesting the recent decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling.

"The extremist right-wing majority on the Supreme Court has put our country down a perilous path," said Representative Mary Gay Scanlon in a speech on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill on marriage equality in a 267-157 vote. This came amid concerns that the overturning of Roe v. Wade could jeopardize other rights.

While the Respect for Marriage Act easily passed the House with a Democratic majority and the support of 47 Republicans, it is likely to stall in the evenly split Senate.

It is one of several bills, including those enshrining abortion access, that Democrats are proposing to confront the court's conservative majority. Another bill, guaranteeing access to contraceptive services, is set for a vote later this week.

"I don't see anything behind this right now other than, you know, election-year politics," South Dakota Senator John Thune said.

The protests and legislative actions by members of one branch of the US government against another have been mostly rare until relatively recently, highlighting the intensity of the political divide in the country.

On June 24 when the Roe v. Wade ruling was announced, President Joe Biden said in a statement: "With this decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court shows how extreme it is, how far removed they are from the majority of this country. They have made the United States an outlier among developed nations in the world. But this decision must not be the final word."

'Very troubling'

In March 2010, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made headlines when he said then-president Barack Obama's criticism of the court's decision on a landmark campaign finance case during the January 2010 State of the Union address was "very troubling".

Up until 2010, presidents had mentioned the Supreme Court only nine times in State of the Union addresses since Woodrow Wilson's speech in 1913, reported PBS, and "few of those mentions would be considered criticisms".

On Tuesday, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elicited glee from conservative commentators on social media for crossing her hands behind her back as if she were handcuffed during the Supreme Court protest.

Ocasio-Cortez was escorted away by a Capitol Police officer along with New York Representative Carolyn Maloney after they were blocking traffic outside the court building.

According to Capitol Police, 35 people were arrested that day.

Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.