GEOFF BENNETT: Time now for
our weekend briefing, this
week brings the first big
test in the political fight
over abortion rights. And the
U.S. Senate Democrats will
try to pass federal
legislation guaranteeing
the right to an abortion.
The effort will fail though
because Democrats do
not have the votes. But
that's not stopping the
Senate Majority Leader.
CHUCK SCHUMER: America. All
of America will be watching.
Republicans swill snot be able
to hide from the American people
and cannot hide from their
role in bringing row to an end.
GEOFF BENNETT: To talk more
about the fallout of that leaked
Supreme Court draft opinion
overturning the landmark Roe vs.
Wade decision, we have with us
Kimberly Atkins Stohr, a senior
opinion writer and columnist for
The Boston Globe and Leigh Ann
Caldwell, anchor of Washington
Post live and co-author of
The Early 202 newsletter. It's
great to have you both with us.
And Leigh Ann, we'll start with
you because Senator Schumer says
the Senate is going to
take up a bill this week
to codify Roe versus Wade,
it clearly doesn't have
60 votes in the Senate. My
question is does it even have
50 votes and give us a
sense of what the strategy
is behind this the showboat
that he said to hold?
LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, Washington
Post Anchor: Yes, it's a
good question, Geoff. I'm not
sure if he even has 50
votes. Of course, there's
50 Democrats, but the
Senate voted on something
similar to this earlier this
year, and they did not get the
support of Senator Joe Manchin.
Now it wasn't the
actual legislation that
they were voting on.
It was just on a procedural
motion to even open
debate on the legislation,
and that still did not get the
support of Senator Joe Manchin.
Now the reason Senator
Schumer is holding a vote
right now, even though
it's going to fail is
twofold. First, he wants
to show the progressives,
the Democratic base,
people who are frustrated
and angry about this ruling.
The Democrats are trying to
do something even though they
aren't able don't have the
votes to get anything done.
And the second reason
is he wants to put all
Republicans on the record
of voting against this,
that is going to be a very
clear cut line between the two
parties, the Republicans and
Democrats on where they
stand on this issue. And
Senator Schumer wants
to make that known.
Now, the difference between
back in February when they
had this vote, and today
is now it's not esoteric,
it's real, there is a
very good chance that
Roe v Wade is going to be
overturned by the Supreme Court
assuming this draft decision
does, in fact, become reality.
GEOFF BENNETT: And Kimberly,
building on the point that
Leigh Ann made about Democrats
viewing this now as being a real
threat I want to draw on your
legal background. Because as
you know the idea in Roe is
that abortion is an unenumerated
right. One that the Constitution
protects even if it doesn't
explicitly say that there
is a right to an abortion.
And the thing that we've been
hearing all this past week
is that if roe is overturned,
that could undermine other
rights like same sex marriage,
access to contraception,
interracial marriage,
potentially, there have
been people who have said that
that sort of idea is overblown.
What's your sense of it?
KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR, Senior
Columnist, Boston Globe: Well, I
think it will be very difficult
to keep this contained to only
apply to abortion. Justice
Sam Alito, in the opinion,
tried to say that and tried to
distinguish it by saying that
emotion involves a human
life. And so it's different
from those other things.
But when you look at
that, that analysis, it's
called substantive due
process. That's that right
that you're talking about,
the rights that are not
expressly in the Constitution,
but that the Court has
recognized as fundamental.
It's the privacy right
that the right to abortion
was based upon, that
underscores the right to access
contraception. The right to have
a privacy to do what you please
in your own home and extends to
other things. It could include
the same sex marriage
right, depending on the
way that it's interpreted.
I think those and interracial
marriage and other things are
also based on equal protection,
which may make those a
little harder to attack.
But certainly there are a
number of rights that we
think about in terms of
liberty that are protected
by the Constitution,
or at least have been
until they two are challenged.
And if it's thrown out the
same way that this privacy
right was essentially thrown
out by Justice Alito, it could
be it could be on shaky ground.
GEOFF BENNETT: And Leigh Ann,
there has been this interesting
dynamic where Republicans who
have worked for decades for
generations to get to this
moment and yet they don't
want to talk about it. Take a
look at what Mitch McConnell,
Senator McConnell said.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, Minority
Leader: This laws action
should be investigated and
punished to the fullest extent
possible. The court should
tune-out the bad face noise
and feel completely
free to do their job.
GEOFF BENNETT: What's the issue
here? Are they concerned about
voter backlash? Is that
why they're not talking
about the substance
of the opinion, the draft
opinion and more about the leak?
LEIGH ANN CALDWELL: Yes,
it's pretty incredible,
Geoff, that conservatives,
social conservatives
have been working on this
issue for decades. And
now they have done it.
And they are not talking,
as you mentioned about the
substance of the case. They're
talking about the leak.
Now, the reason is, I'm told
by Republican operatives by
Republican sources, is that
because there is a lot of
uncertainty and how the
public is going to view this.
The midterms are just six
months away. And now like we
were talking about before,
this is not just something
this is reality now.
And so voters could very
well punished Republican.
GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.
And Kimberly, on the
on the Democratic side,
there is some liberal
frustration that Democrats in
Washington don't seem to be
fighting hard enough. Here's
what California Governor Gavin
Newsom said this past week.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM
(D) California: Where
the hell's my party?
Where's the Democratic
Party? This is a concerted,
coordinated effort. And
yes, they're winning. They
are. They have been.
Let's acknowledge that. We
need to stand up. Where's
the counter offensive?
GEOFF BENNETT: And there
have been Democrats who
have said, you know,
it's been no secret that
Republicans have been trying
for generations to overturn Roe.
Where's the fight? Where's the
strategy? How are Washington
Democrats responding to that?
KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR: Well,
we do see this vote that is set
up to put everyone on record.
But you're absolutely
right. This is not something
that happened overnight.
This draft decision is the
result of an more than decades
long, sustained campaign by
conservative groups, members of
the Christian right well-funded,
well-coordinated task to put
conservatives in
office so that they can
appoint conservative
judges and justices,
and lead up to this
decision if Democrats are
turning to this issue.
Now, they're really
far behind the starting
line. They're really far
behind the finish line,
essentially at this point.
And so I think that's what
you're seeing now a scramble by
Democrats on the
national and state levels
to see exactly what they
can do to fight this off
now. It may be too late.
GEOFF BENNETT: Kimberly Atkins
Stohr and Leigh Ann Caldwell,
thank you both for your
reporting and your insights.
It's great to see you.