for one of their own, the late john paul stevens. the end of the court s term is just weeks away. the whole host of consequential decisions to ter comes to an end. is this the end of roe v. wade. of law and life. at the services the judges call themself as happy family. beneath the surface, there is much more to the story. they re not only not getting along with each other. they don t like each other. it is a court at war with itself. and in the center stands chief justice john roberts. john roberts is someone who is used to winning. he s very much a just dicial conservative. not a fan of roe v. wade. but the set is keenly aware abolishing roe could tear america apart. cared more about preserving the legitimacy of the supreme court. which meant saving roe. he wasn t going to let go. months earlier. abortion justice. oral arguments in the case of dobbs versus jackson women s health center. at issue, a mississippi law that would limit but not eli
75% of americans, three quarters tell gallop they do not have full confidence in the supreme court. it is the lowest number ever recorded. why? what happened? this is the story of how we got here. the current supreme court committed an act of institutional suicide. burn it down! by overturning roe v. wade. after the most dramatic supreme court ruling in decades, there was rage. even violence. americans had a message for their highest court. we won t go back! across the country, tens of thousands took to the streets. you ain t seen nothing yet. the constitutional scholar
america apart. cared more about preserving the legitimacy of the supreme court. which meant saving roe. he wasn t going to let go. months earlier. abortion justice. oral arguments in the case of dobbs versus jackson women s health center. at issue, a mississippi law that would limit but not eliminate the right to an abortion but five justices want to abolish it all together. the conservatives to his right wanted to go all out against roe v. wade. the fetus has an interest in having a life. i thought it was stunning. to save roe, roberts must change one vote. there was really only one desperate hope but all came down to kavanaugh. justice brett kavanaugh. brett kavanaugh has at times
government? many americans question that ro role. these are live images, folks, at the doors of the supreme court. this crowd was trying to force its way inside the court to stop the swearing in of justice brett kavanaugh. there s an add what the supreme court has. it doesn t have the power of the purse or sword, what it has is public respect. as a reporter, joan has seen radical changes over her 30 years of watching the court. people believe that the dobbs ruling was politically motivated and why would they not? former president donald trump ran on a platform that included appointing on justices who would reverse roe v. wade. trump was open about it.
straight at roberts and kavanaugh. the wall street journal editorial page was very wired into the consecutive side of this court. it called the roberts effort to save roe a ferrous lobbying campaign. don t be bullied or persuaded by john roberts. by may 2nd, there was a chance of turning the vote around. i thought there might be some ambivalence there. roberts bent over backwards. the chief s desperate mission would not last the night. the roberts effort ended at 8:32 p.m. in one dramatic moment with a key stroke politico published samuel alito s draft opinion abolishing roe v. wade. stunning news. unprecedented leak of this