GOP Sen. John Cornyn Was Torched For A Bizarre Tweet About Segregation Rulings After Roe V. Wade Was Overturned

On Saturday, President Joe Biden signed into law a modest gun control bill in the only developed nation where mass shootings happen on a regular basis. It was done with bipartisan cooperation, with help from two Republicans, including Texas senator John Cornyn. Cornyn received backlash from extremists in his party, which may be why he took to Twitter for a bizarre post about segregation.

Cornyn was responding to a tweet from Barack Obama, in which the former president railed against the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, thus reversing “nearly 50 years of precedent.” Cornyn quote-tweeted that, writing “Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education.”

Plessy v. Ferguson, which is widely considered one of the worst rulings in Supreme Court history, ruled in 1896 that segregation did not violate the Constitution. It has never been formally overruled, but it was severely weakened by Board v. Board of Education, which eliminated segregation in the nation’s schools in 1954.

So what on earth did Cornyn mean? Was he suggesting that the right-leaning Supreme Court — one of whom, Clarence Thomas, suggested they go after rulings pertaining to contraceptives, same-sex marriage, same-sex coupling, and more — tackle bills involving segregation? Was it some kind of joke? Cornyn later attempted to clarify, but not that much, writing simply and cryptically, “Thank goodness some SCOTUS precedents are overruled.” (Again, Plessy v. Ferguson has never been officially overruled.)

Cornyn’s initial tweet was widely condemned for being at best poorly worded and at worst…well, you can see:

https://twitter.com/HANSEN_SOGROOVY/status/1540777205407653890

Cornyn, who tweets a lot and hasn’t deleted this one in particular, was dragged earlier this year for complaining that Biden doesn’t tweet enough.