ABC News journalist Terry Moran has discovered judicial activism. Minutes after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, he derided conservative “judges in politicians’ robes.” Just in time for a ruling the left hates, Moran declared the era of the Supreme Court being “legitimate” is now over.
Breaking in to live coverage after Roe fell, Moran used swing vote John Roberts as a proxy for his own outrage: “[Roberts] says the Court is too full of certainty on this issue and he would wait for the next case to come. He's lost control of this Court, but it is significant that a justice as conservative as John Roberts is looks at what his conservative colleagues did and says, that's judicial activism.”
Later, Moran complained again: “John Roberts is suggesting is this is an activist decision. This is a decision that did not have to be made, and that given the nature of the issue, and how it has been brought to the Court, will suggest that this is a Court not of judges, but of politicians in judges' robes.”
Dropping the pretense of speaking as Roberts, Moran said of the initial draft decision from May: “Boy, this sounds very absolute and extreme. [Alito’s] tone, that Roe is egregiously wrong, that any constitutional right must be located in our country's history and traditions.”
Closing out ABC’s live coverage, the ABC journalist ominously warned of the country’s future with such a “strongly activist court:
We are in a new era where the reaching for the center to keep the court's legitimacy in the eyes of the public to keep the debate going is over, and we have a very, very strongly activist conservative court.
Here's NBC's meltdown live coverage of the Roe ruling: "‘Devastating’ End of Roe Means Supreme Court Is ‘Rigged’" and "Emotional Chuck Todd Connects End of Roe to ‘Shattering’ of Democracy, ‘Tinder Box."
Here's CBS's live break in: "After Dobbs, CBS Laments 'Retrenchment,' Plays Softball with Planned Parenthood."
A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
ABC News Special
6/24/2022
10:15DAVID MUIR: You know, it's interesting, Terry because initially in this opinion that had been leaked, just Alito had written previously that we cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about “the public's reaction to our work,” talking about any reaction actually to that leak or what could happen if this ruling came down, and it would seem in delivering the same opinion today, that's exactly what they've done. They've ignored any potential public reaction to this.
TERRY MORAN: That's right, David. There was some question when the draft opinion was leaked. Boy, this sounds very absolute and extreme. His tone, that Roe is egregiously wrong, that any constitutional right must be located in our country's history and traditions. People were concerned about how that might impact gay marriage and other rights that are not specified in the constitution. It looks to me like he doesn't pull back from any of that. Now there is a concurrence by Chief justice Roberts. He concurs in the judgment. So he doesn't sign onto all that. It looks like five justices do. So this is not only overturning Roe, but overturning the entire approach to constitutional law, that just because something might not have been a constitutional right when the constitution was written in 1787, perhaps the generalities in the Constitution can be read to guarantee these rights, to people marrying people of the same sex. Contraception isn't mentioned in the Constitution either. It does seem that this opinion opens the door not just to overruling Roe vs. Wade, but to other rights that many Americans have taken for granted that are based on the same reasoning, that the Constitution can evolve.
...
10:28
MORAN: this case has five conservative justices voting to overrule Roe vs. Wade. It has three liberal justices opposing that, and it has John Roberts in the middle. He says that he would have validated the Mississippi law at issue here. Mississippi passed a law banning almost all abortions in 15 weeks. He says that's all you have to decide. You don’t have to decide that women no longer have a right to abortion, and he says, “We adhere closely to the judicial restraint here instead of repudiating a right we have previously recognized, but also expressly reaffirmed.” He says the Court is too full of certainty on this issue and he would wait for the next case to come. He's lost control of this Court, but it is significant that a justice as conservative as John Roberts is looks at what his conservative colleagues did and says, that's judicial activism.
10:30
MORAN: The power of the Supreme Court comes from the confidence and trust of the people. That is why people respect its opinions. And if its decisions shift because one political party gets to appoint some justices, that erodes confidence. This is bedrock belief of justices throughout our history that they should abide by the law and the canons of judicial conduct in a way that doesn't seem to communicate to people that they're just another political institution. And what Justice Breyer is saying there explicitly, and what Chief Justice John Roberts is suggesting is this is an activist decision. This is a decision that did not have to be made, and that given the nature of the issue, and how it has been brought to the Court, will suggest that this is a Court not of judges, but of politicians in judges' robes. That is what Stephen Breyer is alerting the country.
11:17
MORAN: We are in a new era where the reaching for the center to keep the court's legitimacy in the eyes of the public to keep the debate going is over, and we have a very, very strongly activist conservative court.
