CNN's Dana Bash pressed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Sunday about her claim that the Biden administration should "simply ignore" the court's injunction on the abortion pill, mifepristone.
"What you just heard me ask the secretary about was something that you called on the Biden Administration to do, which is just to simply ignore the court ruling. That’s a pretty stunning position, if you think about it in the abstract about the notion of just ignoring a judge’s position, so my question is when this case is resolved by the Supreme Court, should the administration followed that decision if that decision ends up banning this abortion drug?" Bash asked.
"I want to take a step back and dig into the grounds around ignoring this preliminary ruling as well. There is an extraordinary amount of precedent for this. There is a term known as agency non-acquiescence, and this has been used in for focusing, this is a first, that this is precedent setting. It is not. The Trump Administration also did this very thing. But also it has happened before, the idea of consistency and governance until there is a higher court ruling is not an unprecedented thing to happen," she responded.
Ocasio-Cortez said the courts were making a "a mockery of our system, a mockery of our democracy and a mockery of our law" through the mifepristone ruling.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday. (Screenshot/CNN/StateOfTheUnion)
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U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk directed the Food and Drug Administration to halt the approval of mifepristone on Friday while a lawsuit challenging its safety and approval makes its way through court.
Bash asked if it should apply if the Supreme Court were to uphold the Texas judge's decision.
"I think one of the things that I think one of the things that we need to examine is the grounds of that ruling. But I do not believe that the courts have the authority to, have the authority over the FDA that they just asserted, and I do believe that it creates a crisis," Ocasio-Cortez added.
She said if the Supreme Court were to uphold the Texas judge's decision, it would essentially create a "national abortion ban."
Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File) (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
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Ocasio-Cortez previously told CNN that the Biden administration should ignore the ruling.
"I believe that the Biden administration should ignore this ruling," she declared on CNN.
She said "deeply partisan" judges have "engaged in unprecedented and dramatic erosion of the legitimacy of the courts," calling the abortion pill ruling "unfounded."
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, speaks during a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the ruling could "throw our country into chaos."
"Make no mistake, the decision could throw our country into chaos. It'll set a dangerous new precedent, and it will put lives in jeopardy," the Democratic leader said.
Fox News Digital's Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.