WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence has been a metronome of consistency in providing dutiful affirmation for President Trump. He nods approvingly. He claps enthusiastically. He defends vigorously.
So it was highly unusual when Mr. Pence broke with form this week, actually getting out front of the president and praising a concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas in a case in which the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal seeking to reinstate an Indiana law banning abortions sought solely because of the sex or disability of a fetus.
The case involved a law that Mr. Pence had signed as governor, but he was uncharacteristically outspoken.
“Today, Justice Thomas wrote: SCOTUS has been zealous in the past in barring discrimination based on sex, race, & disability,” he said, taking to the president’s preferred medium, Twitter. “Hopeful someday soon SCOTUS will recognize the same protections for the unborn when they rule on future appeals of pro-life legislation.”
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