WASHINGTON, DC (NBC) – In Washington, DC, a sharp divide is growing over recent Supreme Court rulings.
The biggest issues related to gay rights, college admissions and student loans are in the spotlight.
Republicans, with their eyes set on 2024, have been applauding the court’s decisions since the election campaign.
Monday morning, there are repercussions from the high court as the 2024 candidates and the White House respond to recent important Supreme Court decisions.
President Biden is scrambling to find new ways to erase some of the federal student loan debt after conservative justices blocked the president’s first proposal, a decision that candidate Donald Trump praised in South Carolina on Saturday.
“They ruled against it,” Trump said. “100% against it, amazing.”
Another controversial decision is stoking divisions over gay rights.
The high court ruled that a Christian web designer in Colorado has a right to free speech for refusing to create gay wedding websites.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Pence said: “I think this is a real victory for religious freedom”
It comes as Trump’s main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is under fire for his new campaign video released on the last day of Pride Month attacking Trump for his past support of the LGBTQ community.
The video then features a sequence showing DeSantis’ hard line on drag shows and transgender politics interspersed with footage of shirtless men and photos of Brad Pitt in the movie “Troy.”
He was asked to respond to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay US cabinet member. He said: “I’ll leave aside the awkwardness of trying to prove your manhood by uploading a video that splices images of you between oiled-up shirtless bodybuilders.”
Then asked how this benefits the public, Secretary Buttigieg responded: “Who are you trying to help? Who are you trying to make better?”
Some of DeSantis’ Republican rivals are also pushing back.
Log Cabin Republicans, a group representing LGBTQ conservatives, called it divisive and said DeSantis’ rhetoric has “ventured into homophobic territory.”
A DeSantis campaign official tweeted in response to the criticism, “Identity politics is poison.”
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