For the third night in a row, NBC’s Seth Meyers lamented that Roe v. Wade may soon fall and on the Thursday edition of Late Night decried that “An extremist movement of far-right conservatives has spent five decades carefully orchestrating the outcome we're seeing now.”
As part of his diatribe, Meyers claimed that conservative outrage over the leak of Justice Alito’s draft opinion is all fake, “when they're not mocking protesters, they are, of course, pretending to be indignant over the leak itself rather than celebrating the outcome, because they know overturning Roe and criminalizing abortion are deeply unpopular with a huge majority of voters so instead, they want to throw the leaker in jail.”
The outrage is very real, because the left is using it to pressure the Court into ruling the way it wants. Meanwhile, conservatives are not celebrating because it is only a draft.
After playing some clips of Sens. Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz denouncing the leak and a digression into Ginni Thomas and January 6, Meyers returned to Roe, “An extremist movement of far-right conservatives has spent five decades carefully orchestrating the outcome we're seeing now. Their devil's bargain with Trump got them across the finish line, but the assault on abortion rights isn't unique to him and it didn't start with him.”
Meyers then tried to be more of an intellectual and addressed Planned Parenthood v. Casey, “They launched a barrage of new abortion restrictions to see which ones the Court would uphold.”
After playing two clips from a 2005 Frontline documentary outlining the “undue burden standard” established by Casey, Meyers returned to add, “Anti-abortion activists basically adopted the same strategy for attacking Roe that your 5-year-old takes when you tell them not for the run too close to the pool. "Is this too close?" "Yes." "What about this?" "Yes." "What about this?" "Zachary Hudson Hamilton III, if you do not move away from the pool right now, so help me to God, I will end you.”
Casey still involves unelected justices, not elected representatives, deciding what is and is not an undue burden.
Meyers then abandoned his attempt to be an intellectual and accused Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh of being liars, “when it came time to testify to the Senate about their positions on Roe, Kavanaugh and his fellow Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch played the usual rhetorical games and lied, even though everyone knew or should have known at the time they were brazenly lying.”
While Meyers continued fear the overthrow of Roe, other late night hosts have moved on. The only other reference to abortion came from Trevor Noah, who urged viewers to donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds.
This segment was sponsored by Tide.
Here is a transcript of the May 6 show:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
5/6/2022
12:46 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: And when they're not mocking protesters, they are, of course, pretending to be indignant over the leak itself rather than celebrating the outcome, because they know overturning Roe and criminalizing abortion are deeply unpopular with a huge majority of voters so instead, they want to throw the leaker in jail.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: What happened to the Court today was the saddest chapter in the history of the United States Supreme Court. This was despicable. It's dangerous, and it was dumb.
TED CRUZ: If that left-wing law clerk succeeds, it will be the most grotesque politicization of the Supreme Court in the history of our nation, you mentioned an FBI investigation. I hope there is—
STUART VARNEY: Yes.
CRUZ: -- a serious one. And I hope whoever is responsible for this, not only is fired instantly, but is prosecuted and serves real jail time for violating the confidences of the Supreme Court.
MEYERS: There is no duo in history worse than Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. You know who was a much better duo? Milli Vanilli. Or as they're known in Supreme Court parlance, Milli v. Anilli. Next time -- next time-- Cruz flees his state during a weather emergency, I'm betting he'll—
MILLI VANILLI: Blame it on the rain
…
SETH MEYERS: But let's get back to Roe. An extremist movement of far-right conservatives has spent five decades carefully orchestrating the outcome we're seeing now. Their devil's bargain with Trump got them across the finish line, but the assault on abortion rights isn't unique to him and it didn't start with him. For example, after the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey reaffirmed Roe, anti-abortion activists shifted to a new strategy. They launched a barrage of new abortion restrictions to see which ones the Court would uphold.
FRONTLINE: THE LAST ABORTION CLINIC NARRATOR: The joint opinion, delivered by Justices O'Connor, Souter, and Kennedy, crafted a middle position they upheld Roe, but changed the standard by which abortion laws would be judged. They established instead the "Undue burden standard." A law would be invalid, they declared, if it placed substantial obstacles in the path of a woman seeking an abortion.
WILLIAM SALETAN: People got the impression that abortion was safe, Roe v. Wade was safe, all the pro-choice people went home, but what happened is, pro-lifers started to pass legislation to test what exactly is an undue burden. "Let's pass this bill. Is that undue? Let's pass that bill. Is that undue? And let's see where the courts draw the line.”
MEYERS: Anti-abortion activists basically adopted the same strategy for attacking Roe that your 5-year-old takes when you tell them not for the run too close to the pool. "Is this too close?" "Yes." "What about this?" "Yes." "What about this?" "Zachary Hudson Hamilton III, if you do not move away from the pool right now, so help me to God, I will end you.”
Sorry, guys. I shouldn't have had that third nitro cold brew. So they've been working towards this for decades. Kavanaugh, for example, once hailed justice William Rehnquist as his judicial hero, in part for his dissent in Roe v. Wade.,but when it came time to testify to the Senate about their positions on Roe, Kavanaugh and his fellow Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch played the usual rhetorical games and lied, even though everyone knew or should have known at the time they were brazenly lying.
