NEIL: YOU KNOW THE SUPREME
COURT OVERTURNED ROVIO WADE
ENSHRINED IN LAW, FOR THE BETTER PART OF 50 YEARS, 6-3
BETTER PART OF 50 YEARS, 6-3
VOTE.
WHAT THAT RELATES, CHRISTOPHER
SCULLY A JOINS US NOW,
REFLECTIONS ON LAW AND LIFE, A
LIFE WELL LIVED.
LESSONS FROM AN AMERICAN BELIEVER.
I WAS THINKING OF YOUR DAD AS
YOU WERE WHEN THIS DECISION,
WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT IS? >> PROUD AND GRATIFIED.
>> PROUD AND GRATIFIED.
NOT JUST DOBBS BUT A NUMBER OF
OPINIONS, ENDORSED IDEAS, THAT
MY FATHER HAD WRITTEN OVER THE
COURSE OF HIS CAREER. DOBBS AND OVERTURNING ROE,
DOBBS AND OVERTURNING ROE,
BUILT ON IDEAS MY FATHER WROTE,
PLANNED PARENTHOOD VERSUS CASEY
IN 1992. THE MAJORITY OPINION CITES A
THE MAJORITY OPINION CITES A
NUMBER OF TIMES.
THE MAJORITY DECISION FROM 2008
CASE AND A COUPLE RELIGIOUS
LIBERTY CASES BUILT ON MY FATHER’S IDEAS.
FATHER’S IDEAS.
NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINE, SCALIA
STATING LEGACY, VERY PROUD OF
HIM, WHICH HE WERE HERE TO HAVE
SEEN IT, WOULD BE GRATIFIED AND
THE WISE AND COURAGEOUS
JUSTICES WHO SAW THESE OPINIONS
THROUGH.
NEIL: WHAT HE EVER HAVE
ENVISIONED WHEN ALITO’S DRAFT
GOT OUT, THE MARCHES AND
PROTESTS AND EVEN THREATS IN
JUSTICE KAVANAUGH’S LIFE?
>> THE THREAT TO BRETT
KAVANAUGH’S LIFE WOULD HAVE
SURPRISED MY FATHER, THE
PROTESTS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A
SURPRISE, ONE OF THE THINGS HE
POINTED OUT IN HIS PLANNED
PARENTHOOD VERSUS CASEY DISTANT
WAS AS LONG AS JUSTICES USURP
THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE TO
VOTE ON IMPORTANT MORAL ISSUES
LIKE ABORTION PEOPLE WILL TREAT
THE SUPREME COURT AS IF IT WERE
THE LEGISLATURE IT WAS ACTING
LIKE.
THE EXTENT OF THE PROTESTS
WOULD HAVE SURPRISED HIM BUT
THE BASICS OF THE PROTESTS
WOULDN’T HAVE.
WHAT WOULD HAVE SURPRISED HIM
WAS THE LEAK ITSELF, THAT WOULD
HAVE ASTOUNDED HIM.
MY FATHER NEW CLERKS TALK TO
REPORTERS BUT LEAKING A DRAFT
OF AN OPINION SHOWED SUCH
DISRESPECT FOR THE INTEGRITY OF
THE COURT AND THE JUSTICES
THEMSELVES, THAT WOULD HAVE
BEEN UNCONSCIONABLE.
NEIL: YOUR DAD WOULD HAVE
HUNTED THAT PERSON DOWN.
MUCH HAS BEEN SAID THAT YOUR
FATHER AGREED WITH SAMUEL
ALITO’S POSITION THE SUPREME
COURT SHOULD NEVER HAVE WEIGHED
IN ON THIS ISSUE IN 1973 AND
THIS SHOULD BE PUT IN THE HANDS
OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, ELECTED
REPRESENTATIVES.
LIBERALS HAVE COME OUT TO SAY
WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A COUNTRY
THAT WILL ALLOW ABORTIONS AND
HALF THAT WON’T.
IS THIS A SIMPLER OR FREER
SYSTEM?
>> DEMOCRACY ISN’T SUPPOSED TO
BE NEAT AND SIMPLE AND THERE
ARE DIFFICULT ISSUES THAT MAKE
FOR CHAOTIC VOTES AND LACK OF
CONTINUITY.
THE IMPORTANT THING, VOTERS ARE
MAKING THESE DECISIONS, THERE
ARE SOME DECISIONS ABOUT VOTERS
SHOULD NOT WEIGH IN ON AND
THOSE ARE ENSHRINED IN THE
CONSTITUTION.
ABORTION ISN’T ONE OF THOSE.
WE HAVE VARIOUS LAWS ACCORDING
TO THE BELIEFS, MORALS FROM
PEOPLE IN OTHER STATES.
PEOPLE UPSET ABOUT THIS
DECISION, PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN
ABOUT OUR DEMOCRACY BEING ON
THE BRINK AND THREATENED, THIS
IS A CASE WHERE WE ARE BECOMING
MORE DEMOCRATIC AND THEY DON’T
LIKE THAT.
NEIL: THE NOTION OF BE CAREFUL
WHAT YOU WISH FOR BECAUSE NOW
ABORTION HAS GOTTEN SO
SOPHISTICATED YOU CAN TAKE
THESE PILLS TO HANDLE THE WHOLE
THING AND IN STATES THAT HAVE
THESE TRIGGERS, THEY ARE
WEIGHING WHAT TO DO ABOUT THOSE
PILLS AND TRACKING WHO GETS
WHAT.
WHAT YOUR FATHER HAVE
ENVISIONED THAT AND HOW WOULD
HE HAVE HANDLED THAT?
>> I AM NOT SURE ABOUT THAT.
YOU DID IDENTIFY IT AS
INTRASTATE COMMERCE ISSUE AND
IN SOME OF THESE ISSUES WHERE
THESE ABORTION POLICIES AND
BIRTH CONTROL POLICIES GO A LOT
OF IT WILL BE ABOUT DIFFERENT ISSUES THAN WE HAD IN DOBBS AND
ISSUES THAN WE HAD IN DOBBS AND
INTRASTATE COMMERCE.
THE SENATE AND CONGRESS VOTE ON
A FEDERAL BILL MANDATE MAKING
ABORTION LEGAL THROUGHOUT THE
UNITED STATES WOULD COME UNDER
SCRUTINY FOR INTRASTATE
COMMERCE.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT, HOW HE WOULD
HAVE VOTED ON THAT OR HOW
CONSERVATIVE JUSTICE IS
CURRENTLY ON THE COURT BUT IT
WOULD BE A DIFFERENT SET OF
QUESTIONS.