Historian Jon Meacham joined a special edition of Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC on Tuesday to warn that “everything is at risk” if the leaked draft opinion from Justice Alito overturning Roe v. Wade ends up being the final opinion.
Mitchell herself was worried that contraception and same sex-marriage could be next on the list of precedents to fall, “Jon Meacham when we think about other Constitutional rights that have been conferred in recent decades and that includes Republican decisions as well, the right to marriage that—that-- the majority opinion was Justice Kennedy, the mentor, of course, of Justice Kavanaugh on this Court. What does this mean for the right to—to-- contraception? Because basically, the privacy right undergirding Roe was Griswold in Connecticut and that was the right to privacy and then—and then-- by extension, of course, the right to marriage. So, what does this mean for LGBTQ rights?”
The idea that one Republican-appointee makes Obergefell a Republican decision is absurd and so was Meacham’s response as he wasted no time getting to the point, “I think everything is at risk.” If Roe is overturned, the country will become more democratic, but that didn’t stop Meacham from declaring, “you know, people like me and -- I don't want to drag you into this, but people who do what we do for a living, often say that democracy is a fragile thing.”
The hyperbolic Meacham then tried to argue that he wasn’t being hyperbolic, “That the Constitution is a fragile thing. Well, if you ever thought that was hyperbolic or a cliché or some sort of casual thing, read this draft opinion. Elections matter. The Court matters. The composition of the Senate matters. The presidency matters. Because in a republic, all—all-- rights are supposed to be eternal, right?”
He then warned, “They are supposed to be grounded in the, both in reason and in—and in-- theocentric view, they’re supposed to be eternal, but in practice, they’re temporal and what we’re seeing today in vivid terms, right where you’re seeing, is that the rights that many people have taken for granted for 50 years and more are fragile and at risk.”
As for Mitchell and Meacham’s non-abortion worries that were repeated throughout the media on Tuesday, no state is moving to ban birth control, so the Court will not even have to address the question and the current makeup of the Court means Obergefell is almost certainly safe as well.
This segment was sponsored by HughesNet.
Here is a transcript for the May 3 show:
MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports
5/3/2022
11:51 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: Jon Meacham when we think about other Constitutional rights that have been conferred in recent decades and that includes Republican decisions as well, the right to marriage that—that-- the majority opinion was Justice Kennedy, the mentor, of course, of Justice Kavanaugh on this Court. What does this mean for the right to—to-- contraception? Because basically, the privacy right undergirding Roe was Griswold in Connecticut and that was the right to privacy and then—and then-- by extension, of course, the right to marriage. So, what does this mean for LGBTQ rights?
JON MEACHAM: I think everything is at risk and, you know, people like me and -- I don't want to drag you into this, but people who do what we do for a living, often say that democracy is a fragile thing. That the Constitution is a fragile thing. Well, if you ever thought that was hyperbolic or a cliché or some sort of casual thing, read this draft opinion. Elections matter. The Court matters. The composition of the Senate matters. The presidency matters. Because in a republic, all—all-- rights are supposed to be eternal, right? They are supposed to be grounded in the, both in reason and in—and in-- theocentric view, they’re supposed to be eternal, but in practice, they’re temporal and what we’re seeing today in vivid terms, right where you’re seeing, is that the rights that many people have taken for granted for 50 years and more are fragile and at risk.
