By Andrea Shalal and Nandita Bosé
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – President Joe Biden criticized the U.S. Supreme Court as “unbalanced” at a splashy fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday with former President Barack Obama and top Hollywood celebrities that has raised $28 million. of dollars.
Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel began by showing a video montage contrasting Biden’s record with that of his predecessor and current Republican rival, Donald Trump. He received applause 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 vicious attack on the court itself, said Saturday that “the Supreme Court has never been as unbalanced as it is today.”
“The fact of the matter is that there has never been a court that is so out of date,” Biden said. He noted that conservative Justice Clarence Thomas had said the court, which struck down the half-century-old federal right to abortion, should reconsider issues such 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 revenge race for the Nov. 5 election.
If Trump is elected again, Biden said, “he will likely have two new Supreme Court nominees.”
“The idea that if he’s re-elected he’s going to appoint two more who fly backwards flags… I think that’s 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 overturn Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden, including an upside-down American flag, to fly in front of 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 related 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. He has blocked the president’s agenda on immigration, student loans, vaccine mandates and climate change.
Obama said that “the power of the Supreme Court is determined by elections. What we are seeing now is a byproduct of 2016,” when Trump was elected. “Hopefully we’ve learned our lesson. Because these elections matter.”
‘LARGEEST DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISER’
Biden’s campaign hoped the star-studded event would show strength and momentum despite Biden’s low approval ratings and concerns about the president’s age, who is 81.
“This will be one of the largest fundraisers we’ve ever had,” said Ajay Jain Bhutoria, vice president of finance for the Democratic National Committee. A Biden campaign spokeswoman said: “$28 million will go to President Biden’s fundraiser in Los Angeles, and counting. This is the largest Democratic fundraiser in history.”
Biden’s campaign raised more than $26 million generated by a March fundraiser in New York City, where comedian and television host Stephen Colbert hosted Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton. The main ticket package for the Los Angeles event costs $500,000, campaign officials said.
Other celebrities who took the stage at Saturday’s event included Jack Black, Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
In recent weeks, Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame made an appearance in the White House briefing room to praise the president, Robert De Niro showed up in lower Manhattan for a press conference at the behest of the campaign. Biden and Steven Spielberg have 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 performed to help Biden raise money.
Biden’s campaign fundraising in April fell behind Trump’s for the first time after the former president stepped up his joint operation with the Republican National Committee and headlined big-ticket fundraising events.
Democrats still maintained an overall monetary 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 until the election, while Trump has the lead in battleground states that will decide the election, recent polls show. On economic issues like inflation, Trump does better among voters overall than Biden.
Democrats have long counted on the liberal Los Angeles area as a rich source of financial support. Republicans often denounce Democrats across the country as funded by Hollywood elites and California liberals.
But in-state donors finance presidential campaigns on both sides of the aisle. Biden and Trump have raised more in the state for their re-election 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 raised $11.7 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.
The president was unable to host high-dollar fundraising events in Hollywood for much of 2023 due to industry strikes. But since they were resolved, Biden has headlined several fundraisers in the state, including one in December where ticket sales approached $1 million.