Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says ‘F— Clarence Thomas’ for Roe v. Wade opinion

Speaking at the city’s annual Pride in the Park event on Saturday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) cursed out Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for his opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for many states to ban or restrict abortion.

“We know what happened yesterday,” said Lightfoot, Chicago’s first openly gay mayor. “If you read Clarence Thomas’ concurrence,” she shouted, referring to Thomas’ opinion in which he called on the court to revisit rulings on cases that had affirmed the right to privacy, including access to contraceptives and LGBTQ rights, according to The Hill.

Responding to a member of the audience who had yelled something at the mayor, Lightfoot said, “Thank you. F*** Clarence Thomas,” receiving applause and cheers from the crowd. She added, “He thinks that we are going to stand idly by while they take our rights, our right to marry, our right to have children.”

As the Chicago Sun Times noted, many criticized the mayor for her comments, including former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who urged Lightfoot “to criticize without inciting people to mob action.”

“Even if you were echoing what somebody else said in the crowd, it’s dangerous and totally inappropriate,” he added. “You’re almost trying to agitate people to violence when you think about it. … If that’s not an invitation — if that’s not sanctioning it through your rhetoric — I don’t know what does.”

State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) said that, like Lightfoot, he too was “clearly nervous about what the slippery slope” might be, but said that doesn’t excuse the mayor’s language.

“It’s not something that I would say. It’s not something that I would expect from the person who is representing this city on the public stage. We’ve got to be mindful that our young people are watching. Our young people are listening,” Buckner said. “We’ve got to be smart about our rhetoric and about making sure we bring down the temperature and adding more humanity and more thoughtfulness into our politics.”