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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a pro-abortion rally outside of the Supreme Court as the justices hear oral arguments in the June Medical Services v. Russo case on March 4, 2020 in Washington, DC.Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 4, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, told Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh “you’ll pay the price” and “won’t know what hit you” if they uphold a pro-life law the Supreme Court is currently considering, leading Chief Justice John Roberts to release a rare public statement of rebuke.

Schumer made those remarks today outside the Court at a pro-abortion rally.

“I wanna tell you, Gorsuch, I wanna tell you, Kavanaugh: you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price!” he exclaimed. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Roberts responded: 

This morning, Senator Schumer spoke at a rally in front of the Supreme Court while a case was being argued inside. Senator Schumer referred to two Members of the Court by name and said he wanted to tell them that “You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, announced he will introduce a motion tomorrow in the Senate to censure Schumer over the comments.

President Donald Trump and numerous other figures, both conservative and liberal, blasted Schumer. 

“He must pay a severe price for this!” Trump quipped.

A Schumer spokesman responded to Roberts by accusing the chief justice, who sided with the court’s left wing on same-sex “marriage” and has voted twice to uphold Obamacare, of “follow[ing] the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said.”

“For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices Sotomayor and Ginsberg last week, shows Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes.”

“Sen. Schumer’s comments were a reference to the political price Senate Republicans will pay for putting these justices on the court, and a warning that the justices will unleash a major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision,” said Justin Goodman, Schumer’s spokesman. 

Supreme Court justices are not elected and serve for life.

Following Schumer’s comments to the pro-abortion activists who were rallying opposite the pro-lifers gathered outside the court, an abortion activist acknowledged the senator from the microphone and then said, “Let’s hear it for all the people who have abortions! Let’s hear it for our trans folks who have abortions!”

Also present at the pro-abortion rally were celebrities Busy Phillips and Elizabeth Banks and numerous other Democrat congressmen.