Even by MSNBC standards, the network’s reaction to the downfall of Roe v. Wade was extreme as they mourned this “very dark day in America.”
Jose Diaz-Balart was the man who happened to be on the air at the moment of the announcement and he asked NBC analyst, former acting solicitor general, and Twitter self-proclaimed “extremist centrist” Neal Katyal to “give us the bigger picture.”
Katyal didn’t waste any time proclaiming the sky is falling, “This is as devastating a ruling as can be imagined.”
He then approved of Justice Breyer’s dissent, claiming women are no longer equal citizens and concluded with great solemnity “This is a complete flip from 50 years of a guaranteed constitutional right to women. It is as grave and dramatic a step as the United States Supreme Court has ever taken in our lifetimes.”
Fellow analyst and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance followed up by lamenting, “In this country, we're so used to the courts as the guarantor of our civil rights. When states prohibited black people from voting in the south, activists went to the Court to make sure all people were treated equally in our system of government.”
After also claiming the Court doesn’t believe in equality for women, Vance then engaged in some fear-mongering:
the culture wars that led to this newly conservative 6-3 really a super majority, if you count the Chief Justice in that majority on perhaps some issues. What we don't know is what might come next. Could, for instance, Lawrence, the case that makes it possible for gay people to live in civil and marital unions, could that be the next case that falls Could there be other sorts of rights that are vulnerable?
Ultimately, this all means that “It's a very dark day in America.”
A few minutes later, Diaz-Balart welcomed law and politics analyst Dahlia Lithwick, who he asked to “paint the picture of what it means for the 50 states.”
Discovering the concept of federalism, Lithwick lamented, “it's going to mean is that there are two countries. That there are quite literally red states and blue states.”
Lithwick further predicted “we are looking at a sort of a constitutional, legal -- I don't want to use the word civil war, but I think we're going to see immense, immense bickering about where states can control conduct of other states.”
The fact that there are unanswered questions about state-to-state relations apparently proved the majority wrong, “I think it's really, really puts to the lie Justice Kavanaugh's notion that if we kick this back to the states, everyone will chill out and be happy.”
Shortly thereafter former clerk for Justice Sotomayor, Melissa Murray, who predictably decried the decision and warned of what could be next:
We're here not because of law but because of politics. This is a 6-to-3 conservative supermajority that has overruled a right that's been in place for almost 50 years. This Court has dealt with the question of abortion before. It has always upheld Roe v. Wade. What we have here is a naked political grab because they can, because they have the numbers to do so. It's also worth noting that in his concurrence to the majority opinion, Justice Thomas indicated they will not necessarily stop at just abortion. He also suggested that the court should reconsider cases like Obergefell v. Hodges which legalized gay marriage and Griswold v. Connecticut which allows for the right to contraception.
As former Supreme Court clerk, Murray knows that a lone concurrence is proof that Obergefell or Griswold is next, but it tells MSNBC’s viewers that their rage is justified, even when it isn’t.
Later still, Diaz-Balart welcomed Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson and asked for her reaction.
Johnson expectedly and angrily denounced the decision, “This is absolutely devastating. The Court just told us that we are not equal. The Court just told us that we don't have a right in the Constitution to control our own bodies. And I can't think of anything more enraging, more absurd, more insane than overturning nearly 50 years of precedent of our ability to control our own bodies. It is absolutely horrifying … It is absolutely devastating.”
The closest Diaz-Balart came to offering a pro-life perspective during the initial hour of reactions was former clerk for Justice Thomas, then-Judge Kavanaugh and George Mason law Prof. Jennifer Mascott explaining that the Court has given itself a demotion by sending the issue back to the people.
Here is a transcript for the June 24 coverage:
MSNBC Jose Diaz-Balart Reports
6/24/2022
10:16 AM ET
JOSE DIAZ-BALART: Neal Katyal, give us a bigger picture of what Pete Williams is announcing.
NEAL KATYAL: This is as devastating a ruling as can be imagined. It looks very much like the draft opinion that was leaked last month. I haven't done obviously a word comparison, but it does say Roe v. Wade is overruled. It's a 6-to- 3 vote on the bottom line. The chief justice, Chief Justice Roberts, concurs in the judgment, saying he disagreed with the majority's decision to go so far as to overrule Roe v. Wade and that he would have upheld the Mississippi law on a more minor -- on a more narrow basis then the three dissenters led by Justice Breyer, are vehement in their dissents, saying this is improper.
Justice Breyer says quote “one result of today's decision is certain. The curtailment of women's rights and of their status as free and equal citizens.” And what this decision means is that you no longer have a right to an abortion in any of the 50 states if a state legislature, you know, wants to take that away from you, put you in jail or put those who assist you in obtaining an abortion in jail, they can do so.
This is a complete flip from 50 years of a guaranteed constitutional right to women. It is as grave and dramatic a step as the United States Supreme Court has ever taken in our lifetimes.
DIAZ-BALART: Joyce Vance, give us some context on that. That is an extraordinary thing that Neal is talking about. It really is taking back precedent for more than 40 years.
JOYCE VANCE: In this country, we're so used to the courts as the guarantor of our civil rights. When states prohibited black people from voting in the south, activists went to the Court to make sure all people were treated equally in our system of government. So, Neal is correct to point out this is monumental because it's the first time we have seen the Court take away a right.
And the way they do it, the context in which they do it, saying that there is historically no right grounded in the Constitution and its text or in its precedent or in our history that guarantees women rights to equality, that bodes poorly for other rights that have been the subject of the culture wars in this country.
The culture wars that led to this newly conservative 6-3 really a super majority, if you count the Chief Justice in that majority on perhaps some issues. What we don't know is what might come next. Could, for instance, Lawrence, the case that makes it possible for gay people to live in civil and marital unions, could that be the next case that falls? Could there be other sorts of rights that are vulnerable? It's a very dark day in America.
…
10:23 AM ET
DIAZ-BALART: Dahlia, paint the picture of what it means for the 50 states.
DAHLIA LITHWICK: Well, you know, it's interesting what it's going to mean is that there are two countries. That there are quite literally red states and blue states. And we're already seeing red states making efforts to reach out into blue states and say we're going preclude you from performing abortions, either by shuttering your clinics, trying to bankrupt your clinic. We're already seeing fights going on about red states that are going to want to make it impossible for people to travel interstate to get this basic health care. And I think we're going to see blue states like Connecticut passing laws to try to shield their own providers from liability in red states.
So in some sense, I think we are looking at a sort of a constitutional, legal -- I don't want to use the word civil war, but I think we're going to see immense, immense bickering about where states can control conduct of other states. In some ways it is sort of representative of where we are right now, but I think it's really, really puts to the lie Justice Kavanaugh's notion that if we kick this back to the states, everyone will chill out and be happy.
…
10:26 PM ET
MELISSA MURRAY: I think it's exactly that. We're here not because of law but because of politics. This is a 6-to-3 conservative supermajority that has overruled a right that's been in place for almost 50 years. This Court has dealt with the question of abortion before. It has always upheld Roe v. Wade. What we have here is a naked political grab because they can, because they have the numbers to do so. It's also worth noting that in his concurrence to the majority opinion, Justice Thomas indicated they will not necessarily stop at just abortion. He also suggested that the court should reconsider cases like Obergefell v. Hodges which legalized gay marriage and Griswold v. Connecticut which allows for the right to contraception. So, as Dahlia has said, this will not end here. There will be a number of clashes over the scope of the states’ authority to prohibit abortion, but there will also be other clashes under this right of liberty that the 14th Amendment guarantees and whether that extends to these rights of heart and home that we all take for granted.
…
10:39 PM ET
DIAZ-BALART: Joining us now, Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood president and CEO. Alexis, your reaction to this news.
ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON: This is absolutely devastating. The Court just told us that we are not equal. The Court just told us that we don't have a right in the Constitution to control our own bodies. And I can't think of anything more enraging, more absurd, more insane than overturning nearly 50 years of precedent of our ability to control our own bodies. It is absolutely horrifying, and all I can think about is the millions of people that are going to be affected. Millions of people that, you know, we’ve seen as patients at Planned Parenthood, many other independent providers out there, who are catching tears right now from their patients, knowing they won't be able to provide the care that they need. It is absolutely devastating.
