During a press conference about Abortion rights held by Senate Democrats, Blumenthal claimed he was right in the middle of the Roe vs Wade decision which was written by Blackmun in 1973.
“I’m new to the Senate but I’m not new to this battle. Since the days of Roe v. Wade, when I clerked for Justice Blackmun, as a state legislator, as attorney general, I have fought this battle.”The problem is, Blumenthal clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun in 1974, the year after Blackmun wrote Roe v. Wade decision, in 1973 Blumenthal was busy not being in Vietnam.
Apparently Senator Blumenthal was not happy this news was published, his staff even went as far as threatening the reporter that broke the story:
Ms. Rubiner...so will the Connecticut voters.
A spokesman for Blumenthal, Ty Matsdorf, dismissed suggestions that his boss had pumped up his connection to the Roe v. Wade case.
"He didn't misstate anything," said Matsdorf. "This was a huge case that had ripple effects."
He said that when Blumenthal clerked for Blackmun, there were follow-up petitions that the Supreme Court dealt with, along with broader fall-out from the case.
"It's not like there was just in 1973 this decision that was issued and it stopped," Matsdorf said. "This was a fundamental case that shifted U.S. law... It continued to ripple through the judicial system and the nation. We're still feeling the effects of it today. For him to say 'during the days', he's talking about all the follow-up legal action."
Laurie Rubiner, Blumenthal's chief of staff, echoed that argument and warned against writing such an "incendiary" story.
"This is a very unfair route you are going down," she said. "We'll remember this."
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