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
Segregation had an iron grip on the south. we had an absolutely no intention of integrating in the south. for the brown family of topeka kansas, separate but equal meant their daughter could not attend her they bneighborho school. the supreme court heard the case of brown versus the board of education. like america itself, the board was bitter ly divided. inherently unequal. a new chief justice was determined to change that. warren knew a ruling in favor of brown would not be enforceable was unanimous. warren was a great master of trying to bring the court together. he argued for months. finally he got every judge to agree. the court ruled for brown 9-0.
Conservatives embraced the society. very moneyed interest are pouring funds into the federalist society. then in 1987 a seismic event turned the federalist society into a conservative juggernaut. ronald reagan nominated a founding member to the supreme court, judge robert boric. the boric battle was such a big defining moment in america. starting with justice linguist. back then they were brief and tame affairs. you were a competent judge capable of being a functioning justice, you would get confirmed. the boric confirmation changed that. john bork should be immediately confirmed. the right thought bork would be a shoe in. he was a scholar and appeals court judge. so well respected and thought of in the legal academy, there would be no problem getting him confirmed.
He was serving in 1987, with dreams of someday sitting in that chair. in the senate judiciary committee. and it s all supreme court confirmation hearing. and when samuel alito saw the vote count of robert berke s nomination to the supreme court, the senate will count, samuel alito knew he would not ever make the mistake that robert boric made. robert berke s nomination was defeated on the senate floor 58 to 42. the 58 votes against robert boric included six republicans who voted against republican president ronald reagan s nominee because his views were too extreme. clarence thomas was watching that robert bore confirmation hearing from his job in the reagan administration. and three years later, clarence thomas gave an answer in his confirmation hearing that stunned the senate. i was working in the senate at
Make the mistake that robert boric made. robert berke s nomination was defeated on the senate floor 58 to 42. the 58 votes against robert boric included six republicans who voted against republican president ronald reagan s nominee because his views were too extreme. clarence thomas was watching that robert bore confirmation hearing from his job in the reagan administration. and three years later, clarence thomas gave an answer in his confirmation hearing that stunned the senate. i was working in the senate at the time, and i ve remembered this answer almost ward forward since the day he said it under oath. it had nothing to do with any to hills sexual assault sexual harassment allegations against clarence thomas. which did not become public until after his confirmation hearing was actually considered a complete.