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 was concerned about conservatives at the high court fifteen times. CBS 8, NBC 5, and CBS 8. CBS was the only one to bother with liberal labels.
This was the view of an ABC senior national correspondent. Here’s some of Moran’s labeling on Wednesday’s Good Morning America:
Politico Published a draft opinion on February 10th Five conservative justices are shownWe are ready to end almost half a century worth of precedent ….for abortion rights Leaked opinions were This was written in support of five conservative justices The signs are all pointing to the truth that This conservative majority Looks ready to End Roe Once and For All The Court leaked a draft opinion and this is an unprecedented leak. It reveals two important things. The conservative majorityIs prepared to roll back an existing constitutional right that was granted previously, something which no court has done before.
Journalists at NBC live in a world without labels for justices such as Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. 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, Who voted for 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. In our study, this effort to divide the difference is not included.
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 noted that “the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion shows thatThe conservative 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, however, was aware of the Court’s liberal elements unlike the other networks. On Tuesday’s CBS Mornings, 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 and Sam Alito are both conservatives. But it’s just as obvious that there are extreme liberals on the Court. If the ABC, CBS, and NBC journalists admitted that it was true, it would be a nice thing.