Supreme FREAK OUT: Nets Fret Over ‘Conservative’ Justices 28 Times, Liberals Only 3

In the first hours after the leaking of a draft ruling showing the Supreme Court appears ready to overturn Roe vs. Wade, all three networks melted down over the “conservatives” on the court, labeling them a whopping 28 times. On these same shows, there were only 3 “liberal” labels and all of them came from CBS. 

MRC analysts reviewed the morning and evening newscasts on Tuesday and the morning shows on Wednesday. ABC, CBS 8, and NBC 5 both worried 15 times about conservatives in the high courts. CBS only bothered to label three liberals. 

Terry Moran (ABC senior national correspondent) offered the most frightening take. Here’s some of Moran’s labeling on Wednesday’s Good Morning America: 

Politico Published a draft opinion on February 10th Five conservative justices appear to be on displayWe are ready to end almost half a century worth of precedent ….for abortion rights This leaked opinion is This was written in support of five conservative justices Signs point to the reality that This conservative majority Court appears ready to abolish Roe for good The Court leaked a draft opinion and this is unprecedented. It reveals two important things. The conservative majorityWill do anything a court has never done: roll back constitutional rights previously granted.

Journalists from NBC are free to live and work in a non-label world, where justices like Sonia Sotomayor or Elena Kagan can be found. NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt opened his show on Tuesday by worrying only about conservatives: “While such a decision from the conservative-leaning court has been widely expected, the magnitude and nature of the leak is another story.” 

NBC reporter Kristen Welker on Wednesday’s Today fretted that the Court’s “conservatives” may have lied during Senate hearings: “Moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, Voted to confirm conservative Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, says she feels misled by their responses about Roe v. Wade during their respective confirmation hearings.” 

(Note: Kristen Welker twice on Wednesday used this phrasing about the liberal justices: “The three Democratic-appointed justices would likely dissent.” This included a graphic differentiating between “conservative” and “Democratic-appointed” justices. Our study does not include this attempt to split the difference.

On Tuesday’s CBS Mornings, Tony Dokoupil explained, “Many experts have predicted the Court will roll back abortion rights after conservatives gained a 6-3 majority on the Court.”

CBS legal correspondent Jan Crawford on Tuesday morning noted that “the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion shows thatConservative majority would strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision guaranteeing abortion rights.” After mentioning Sam Altio, she added that “four other conservative justices reportedly had voted to overturn Roe in the Mississippi.”

CBS, unlike the other networks, seemed to be aware of the fact that the Court had liberals. Crawford insisted that “it’s unclear whether Chief Justice John Roberts would have allowed the Mississippi law to stand without overturning Roe or whether he’d join the liberals.”  

On Tuesday’s Evening News, she again noted that Roberts may “join the three liberals.” 

There are many stories about the leakage of Supreme Court decisions and possible Roe Vs. Wade overturning. Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, and other conservatives are obvious. But it’s just as obvious that there are extreme liberals on the Court. Would be great if ABC, CBS, and NBC journalists would acknowledge that.