The liberal hack journalists at CNN and MSNBC had panic attacks this morning over the Supreme Court reviewing a “controversial” 2018 abortion law in Mississippi, that bans elective abortions after 15 weeks gestation, arguing it signaled the end of Roe v. Wade. Each network panicked viewers with “breaking news” that the “conservative” Supreme Court had agreed to take up the contested state law….next Fall.
Between the two networks, abortion “rights” were mentioned eight times. But not once was the “right” to life mentioned, of course.
Shortly after her show began, MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson breathlessly hyped to viewers the “breaking news.”
"We want to get to that breaking news from the Supreme Court that's happened in the last couple minutes. Here's the deal. The justices have agreed to take up a major abortion case next term that could test the limits of Roe V. Wade. It's really the court's first big move to try to reconsider abortion rights since Justice Amy Coney Barrett took the bench," she touted.
Jackson’s only guest, Melissa Murray, is a MSNBC contributor who formerly clerked for liberal, pro-abortion justice Sonia Sotomayor and has written pro-abortion op-eds for The Washington Post. Needless to say, there was no conservative viewpoint aired in the entire interview.
The MSNBC host asked Murray to explain what was at “stake.” Murray touted “the stakes could not be any higher” because of the conservative makeup of the court and states making “more aggressive laws seeking to restrict the right to choose an abortion.” She worried this was the beginning of the end of Roe v. Wade:
Many of them have been challenged to the Supreme Court as a bid to overturn and completely dismantle Roe V. Wade. This is just one those challenges and just one that the court has decided to take up, so on the court's docket going into the next term will be this very fraught question of whether these continued protections for reproductive rights will be allowed to continue for women or whether they will be rolled back.
Jackson prompted her pro-abortion guest to fret over the “boost” to abortion opponents. In turn, Murray slimed pro-lifers as “anti-choice” before whining about “stalwart supporter of reproductive rights” Ginsburg being replaced by Barrett:
Oh it's certainly a boost. This is exactly what the anti-choice movement has been seeking for the last few years. Again, much of this is because of the changed composition of the court. It's not just that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was a stalwart supporter of reproductive rights has been replaced by Amy Coney Barrett. But the fact that there've actually been three new clear people who have been skeptical of abortion rights who’ve been added to the court, Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Neil Gorsuch and now of course Amy Coney Barrett.
Jackson again hyped the “big abortion case” the court agreed to take on the case next Fall twenty minutes later with Justice Correspondent Pete Williams. Again, MSNBC singled out Barrett for her pro-life personal views:
JACKSON: Do you have any sense where these former justices, I'm thinking, for instance, justice Amy Coney Barrett might end up on this?
WILLIAMS: Well, she was clearly the big hope for abortion opponents because of they are writings about abortion and her earlier statements about her Catholic faith making a difference.
On CNN Newsroom, co-anchors Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto prodded legal correspondents Elie Honig and Jessica Schneider on why the public should be worried:
POPPY HARLOW: Significant breaking news just into us. The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a major abortion case next term concerning a controversial Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks.
JIM SCIUTTO: It's going to be a big test for the Roe V. Wade decision which initially legalized abortion particularly with the 6-3 conservative makeup of the court.
CNN also singled out justices Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas as partisan activists on the court. No one at CNN and MSNBC would admit that the far-left justices could be described the same way.
SCHNEIDER: [I]t also comes now with Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the court. We know as a private citizen she has expressed her anti-abortion views, however, during her confirmation hearing she did say that she wouldn't let her private feelings, her opinions impact her decision. But one justice who has spoken out repeatedly about Roe V. Wade saying that it needs to be overturned is Justice Clarence Thomas. He has made no secret of his opinion that it should be overturned. I mean, we heard from him recently saying that Roe V. Wade has created the right to abortion out of whole cloth without a shred of support from the constitution's text. So this will be a real test for the court.
Schneider even fretted an end to COVID rules on mail order abortion drugs signaled a move "to the right" from the court:
It was just back in January when the court actually reimposed restrictions on the abortion drug that women could previously get without visiting a doctor, they reimposed the rules stating that women had to go in-person in order to get this abortion drug. So we've seen already the court sort of moving more toward the right and now this will be a major test for the court, no doubt -- sorry, abortion rights activists are very concerned about this opinion -- about this case being heard at the Supreme Court next term.
Not done attacking the conservative justices on the court, Sciutto scoffed at the notion that they would follow precedent in terms of Roe v. Wade:
SCIUTTO: The background here is important because Roe V. Wade has been a target of conservatives for years. By the way, as they choose justices for the court and other high courts, they're looking at what -- how they might decide cases like this. I just wonder they've all been asked in their confirmation these questions, they all have an answer for it, tend to sort of say, well, you know, I'm not going to break with precedent, blah blah. Does that really mean anything?Or are we going to see with this court what conservatives have been trying to accomplish for decades now, if not overturning Roe V. Wade certainly restricting abortion more?
HONIG: I put almost no stock in the stock answer of I'm just going to follow precedent...
Just a reminder, this is the same network who brings on actors from The Handmaid’s Tale to fearmonger that the United States is turning into a dystopian hellscape when abortion restrictions get passed in some states.
CNN’s hackery was paid for by Liberty Mutual and MSNBC’s was paid for by CarShield. Contact them at the Conservatives Fight Back page here.
Read the transcripts below:
CNN Newsroom
5/17/2021
POPPY HARLOW: Significant breaking news just into us. The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a major abortion case next term concerning a controversial Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks.
JIM SCIUTTO: It's going to be a big test for the Roe V. Wade decision which initially legalized abortion particularly with the 6-3 conservative makeup of the court. Joining us CNN Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider along with senior legal analyst Elie Honig. Jessica, first to you. Tell us exactly what the Supreme Court announced this morning and how soon will we see this go before them?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER: Well, this won't actually be heard by the Supreme Court until next term so sometime after October. It's important to note that this law was blocked by the fifth circuit here. It remains blocked. It will remain blocked until the Supreme Court hears it and then issues a decision. We are looking at at least another year of this law blocked. This is a major law out of Mississippi, it blocks abortions after 15 weeks, except for cases of a medical emergency, severe fetal abnormalities, but it does not make exceptions for rape or incest. It's important to note that this case comes now that this court is solidly conservative, 6-3, it also comes now with Justice Amy coney Barrett on the court. We know as a private citizen she has expressed her anti-abortion views, however, during her confirmation hearing she did say that she wouldn't let her private feelings, her opinions impact her decision. But one justice who has spoken out repeatedly about Roe V. Wade saying that it needs to be overturned is Justice Clarence Thomas. He has made no secret of his opinion that it should be overturned. I mean, we heard from him recently saying that Roe V. Wade has created the right to abortion out of whole cloth without a shred of support from the constitution's text. So this will be a real test for the court. We have also seen the court weigh in recently on some abortion-related issues. It was just back in January when the court actually reimposed restrictions on the abortion drug that women could previously get without visiting a doctor, they reimposed the rules stating that women had to go in-person in order to get this abortion drug. So we've seen already the court sort of moving more toward the right and now this will be a major test for the court, no doubt -- sorry, abortion rights activists are very concerned about this opinion -- about this case being heard at the Supreme Court next term. This is definitely a major case that we've been waiting to see if the Supreme Court will take up, and now this morning the Supreme Court saying, yes, in fact, they will hear it come next term, guys.
POPPY HARLOW: Okay. So, Elie, Mississippi here in their filings is saying that roe V. Wade's line in terms of viability of a fetus is arbitrary, but there is some history here with this same Chief Justice, Chief Justice Roberts sided with the liberals when it came last term to the Louisiana law, which he said echoed the Texas law that was struck down about four years ago.The question is is it different now, the makeup of the court is different?
ELIE HONIG: It is Poppy, that is the number one factor. Like you said, about a year ago we got our last major ruling out of the Supreme Court on abortion where they struck down a very restrictive Louisiana law. If that law had stood, it would have essentially meant that the entire state of Louisiana had one doctor who was legally licensed to perform abortions. The Supreme Court came down with a somewhat surprising 5-4 ruling where Chief Justice Roberts joined the then four liberal justices to make a majority. Since then the biggest change is that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of course has passed and been replaced by Amy Coney Barrett. So if you do the math, and If you assume that Justice Ginsburg's vote against the restrictive law, will flip over to Amy Coney Barrett you could have a totally different result. Remember It's a 6-3 court, conservatives have six, liberals are three. So you would need to see Chief Justice Roberts plus one other conservative flip over and join the liberals now to give a ruling in favor of the liberal position.
JIM SCIUTTO: Elie, The background here is important because Roe V. Wade has been a target of conservatives for years. By the way, as they choose justices for the court and other high courts, they're looking at what -- how they might decide cases like this. I just wonder they've all been asked in their confirmation these questions, they all have an answer for it, tend to sort of say, well, you know, I'm not going to break with precedent, blah blah. Does that really mean anything?Or are we going to see with this court what conservatives have been trying to accomplish for decades now, if not overturning Roe V. Wade certainly restricting abortion more?
HONIG: I put almost no stock in the stock answer of I'm just going to follow precedent because, guess what, the Supreme Court justices do, they decide what they think the precedent is and what the precedent means. This is a major issue. It's sort of remained quiet, relatively quiet if you look nationwide in the Supreme Court over the last several years. But clearly the position of the new justices on abortion has been a major political and legal animating factor. Let's remember the three newest justices all appointed by Donald Trump during his term are also the three youngest justices on the court. They are likely to be together as a block for many decades.
SCIUTTO: And that by design as well. They are younger, they are there longer. Jessica Schneider, Eli Honig, this is big news, we will be following it as we go into the Fall.
.....MSNBC Hallie Jackson Reports
5/17/2021
HALLIE JACKSON: We want to get to that breaking news from the Supreme Court that's happened in the last couple minutes. Here's the deal. The justices have agreed to take up a major abortion case next term that could test the limits of Roe V. Wade. It's really the court's first big move to try to reconsider abortion rights since Justice Amy Coney Barrett took the bench. I want to bring in MSNBC contributor Melissa Murray, a former clerk to now justice Sonia Sotomayor. Melissa we’ll be joined by Pete Williams when he finishes looking at what else has been going on with the Supreme Court as that is developing this morning. But set out the stakes here and explain if you can in layman's terms this case coming out of Mississippi, what it's all about.
MELISSA MURRAY: Well, the stakes could not be any higher, Hallie. Again, this is a changed court, throughout the country the last couple years as Donald Trump has added now appointees to the Supreme Court bench, there have been more and more aggressive laws seeking to restrict the right to choose an abortion and many of them have been challenged to the Supreme Court as a bid to overturn and completely dismantle Roe V. Wade. This is just one those challenges and just one that the court has decided to take up, so on the court's docket going into the next term will be this very fraught question of whether these continued protections for reproductive rights will be allowed to continue for women or whether they will be rolled back. And this particular law from Mississippi that’s being challenged prohibits abortions after 15 weeks, and the question before the court is whether or not the so-called previabilityy bans on abortion are constitutional. Two cases, Roe V. Wade and planned parenthood versus Casey say that the states can not prohibit or ban abortion before viability, the point at which the fetus can survive outside of the womb. That's a really important distinction to make going forward in terms of how states choose to regulate the abortion right.
JACKSON: Melissa, air to say the fact that the court is considering taking this up at all could be a um a boost, if you will, to opponents of abortion?
MURRAY: Oh it's certainly a boost. This is exactly what the anti-choice movement has been seeking for the last few years. Again, much of this is because of the changed composition of the court. It's not just that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was a stalwart supporter of reproductive rights has been replaced by Amy Coney Barrett. But the fact that therve actually been three new clear people who have been skeptical of abortion rights who’ve been added to the court, Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Neil Gorsuch and now of course Amy Coney Barrett.
(...)
10:30AM EST
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JACKSON: Do you have any sense, given the confirmation hearing we've seen for new justices on the bench. The issue of precedence obviously comes up. Do you have any sense where these former justices, I'm thinking, for instance, justice Amy Coney Barrett might end up on this?
WILLIAMS: Well, she was clearly the big hope for abortion opponents because of they are writings about abortion and her earlier statements about her Catholic faith making a difference.
