time now for our weekend
briefing.
This week brings the first big
test in the political fight over
abortion rights.
In 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.
Sen. Schumer: America -- all of
America will be watching.
Republicans will not be able to
hide from the American people
and cannot hide from their role
in bringing roe to an end.
Geoff: To talk more about the
fallout of that leaked supreme
court draft opinion overturning
the landmark roe versus wade
decision, we have with us
Kimberly Atkins Stohr, a senior
opinion writer and columnist for
the Boston globe, and Lee Ann
Caldwell, anchor of Washington
post live and coauthor of the
early 202 newsletter.
It's great to have you both with
us.
And Lee 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's set to hold.
Lee Ann: Yeah, 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,
that 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
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: And Kimberly, building on
the point that Lee 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: 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 abortion 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 rights to
access contraception, the right
to have 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, too, 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 --
they could be on shaky ground.
Geoff: And Lee 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.
Senator Mcconnell: This laws act
ion should be investigated and
punished to the fullest extent
possible.
The court should tune out the
bad faith noise and feel
completely free to do their job.
Geoff: 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?
Lee Ann: Yeah, 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 in 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
punish Republicans.
Geoff: Yeah.
Kimberly, 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. Newsom: Where the hell is
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 counteroffensive?
Geoff: And there have been
Democrats who've 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: 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 a more than decades
long, sustained campaign by
him -- 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, and it may be too late.
Geoff: Kimberly Atkins Stohr and
Lee Ann Caldwell, thank you both
for your reporting and your
insights.
It's great to see you.
♪♪