Biden slams Supreme Court at $30 million fundraiser with Obama, Clooney, Julia Roberts

[June 17, 2024]  By Andrea Shalal and Nandita Bose

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -President Joe Biden slammed the U.S. Supreme Court as "out of kilter" at a glitzy fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday with former President Barack Obama and top Hollywood celebrities that has raised over $30 million.

Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel began by showing a video montage contrasting Biden's record with that of his predecessor and current Republican challenger Donald Trump. He drew cheers from the audience at a packed Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, where Hollywood celebrities George Clooney and Julia Roberts were among the guests.

Biden, a Democrat who has frequently denounced specific decisions but resisted a full-throated attack on the court itself, said on Saturday "the Supreme Court has never been as out of kilter as it is today."

"The fact of the matter is that there has never been a court that is this far out of step," Biden said. He noted that conservative Justice Clarence Thomas had said the court, which overturned the half-century-old federal right to abortion, should reconsider such things as in vitro fertilization and contraception.

Trump nominated three of the six conservatives who control the nine-member court. He and Biden are in a tight rematch race for the Nov. 5 election.

If Trump is elected again, Biden said, he "is likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees."

"The idea that if he's reelected he's going to appoint two more who are flying flags upside down... I think it is one of the scariest parts," Biden said.

He was referring to a recent controversy involving Justice Samuel Alito, who allowed flags associated with the movement to reverse Trump's 2020 loss to Biden - including an upside-down American flag - to fly outside his homes in Virginia and New Jersey.

Democratic lawmakers, citing the flag displays, have said Alito should recuse himself from a case involving Trump's claim of presidential immunity from prosecution on federal criminal charges relating to his efforts to overturn the 2020 results.

Since Biden took office, the court's conservative majority has also restricted affirmative action, gay rights, gun control and environmental regulation. It has blocked the president's agenda on immigration, student loans, vaccine mandates and climate change.

Obama said "the power of the Supreme Court is determined by elections. What we're seeing now is a byproduct of 2016" when Trump was elected. "Hopefully we have learned our lesson. Because these elections matter."

Obama also invoked Trump's felony convictions to applause from the crowd. Trump was convicted by a New York jury on May 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

'LARGEST DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISER'

The Biden campaign hoped the star-studded event would display strength and momentum despite Biden's low approval ratings and concerns about the age of the president, who is 81.

"This will be one of the biggest fundraisers we've had," said Ajay Jain Bhutoria, deputy finance chair at the Democratic National Committee. A Biden campaign spokeswoman said "$28 mln heading into President Biden's LA fundraiser - and counting. This is the largest Democratic fundraiser in history."

U.S. President Joe Biden takes part in a conversation with former U.S. President Barack Obama and late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel during a star-studded campaign fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 15, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The Biden campaign outraised the $26 million a March fundraiser in New York City generated where comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert hosted Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton. The top-ticket package for the LA event costs $500,000, campaign officials said.

Other celebrities who took the stage at the Saturday event included Jack Black, Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

In recent weeks, Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame made a White House briefing room appearance to praise the president, Robert De Niro showed up in lower Manhattan for a press conference at the Biden campaign's behest and Steven Spielberg has been helping the Biden campaign with storytelling.

Actor Michael Douglas held a fundraiser for the president and artists Queen Latifah, Lenny Kravitz, Lizzo, James Taylor, Christina Aguilera and Barbra Streisand have all performed to help Biden raise money.

Biden campaign's fundraising in April lagged Trump's for the first time, after the former president ramped up his joint operation with the Republican National Committee and headlined high-dollar fundraisers.

Democrats still maintained an overall cash advantage over Trump and the Biden campaign continues to have a considerably larger war chest.

Biden and Trump are tied in national polls with less than five months to go before the election, while Trump has the edge in the battleground states that will decide the election, recent polls show. On economic issues like inflation, Trump scores higher with voters overall than Biden.

Democrats have long counted on the liberal Los Angeles area as a rich source of financial backing. Republicans often decry Democrats nationwide as funded by Hollywood elites and California liberals.

But the state's donors bankroll presidential campaigns on both sides of the aisle. Biden and Trump have both raised more in the state for their reelection bids than anywhere else, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Biden raised $24 million through April 30 in California, and Trump $11.7 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The president was largely unable to host high-dollar Hollywood fundraisers for much of 2023 because of industry strikes. But since they were resolved, Biden has headlined several fundraisers in the state, including one in December where top tickets approached $1 million.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington and Andrea Shalal in Los Angeles; Editing by Heather Timmons, Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)

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