Harry is forced to become what he most detests, leading to a momentous decision, and the termination of a lifelong friendship. Sarah breaks another record.
From iHeart Podcasts. This is Supreme The Battle.
For Rows eighteen Roll Against.
Wade, starring Maya Hawk and William H. Macon.
Whenever you are.
Ready, mister Chief Justice, and may have placed the Court.
Episode nine, The most controversial man in America.
Closed the door. I made a decision. We're starting over. We're striking down the Texas law.
Really yes, really?
Yes? Why is that so hard to believe?
It's just you're sure this time because you have had a few false starts.
I am. Now, how do we get this done?
Your honor?
This will be my first major decision, I write, Charlie, we need a home run.
Okay, I say we go for it, sir. The more lenient we are with restrictions, the more likely we are to ensure Marshall and Brennan's sign on.
No no, Marshall, Brennan and Douglas are in the bag. We can't go too far and risk alienating Powell, Stewart and Warren.
I disagree, sir. We shouldn't take the liberal justices for granted. But aren't we missing the bigger picture? We only need one more vote for a five four majority.
Absolutely not, sir, If we're evenly split one more vote gets us over the top.
Yes, Charlie, I'm aware how math works. Thank you.
But open a newspaper, turn on the TV. Abortion clinics are getting bombed, women and doctors are being harassed and dying. This can't be a five to four decision. We can't squeak by. I want a real majority, not a coin toss. Yes, sir, Now let's go get the damn votes. You say I have to play politics. That's what I'll do. I'll play majong if you tell me that's the only way. Now, where do we begin?
How about Justice Powell?
Ser Oh christ Hal wrote the blueprint for the rise of the American Conservative movement. For the Lewis Powell, this country would go back to before it even heard of FDR. Okay, how about the Chief then, No, we need to work our way toward Warren.
How about Wizard Justice White.
I'll due respect your honor. You're dreaming.
Wizard was appointed by JFK. Charlie.
There's a shot, and think how much it'll help dissuay the others.
Whizz there, nice moves out there.
I led the NFL in rushing my rookie season, Harry, I don't need the condescension.
I didn't mean anything by it, Whizzer. It's about a million times better than I could do. You have a second to talk, Oh.
Christ No, I haven't read your latest five hundred page opis Harry, how about you give me the cliffs notes.
Well, sure, here's the overview.
I'm throwing it out and starting again with something that actually has a shot at working.
Well, look at you.
You're voting to strike down the Texas law.
Do you need to get on board, Wizard?
Yeah, how about a lobotomy if that's where we're starting.
Look, it's not up to us, Harry, the least democratic branch of the government shouldn't be settling this.
Leave it for Congress or the States.
You wouldn't say that about civil rights. We wouldn't have Brown v Board, Miranda, Gideon Erry.
If nine old men unilaterally make this decision, you'll radicalize this country.
People will go crazy.
Let the politicians decide they were elected at least.
This is raw judicial power gone wrong. No, Wizard.
When my granddaughters are in college, they won't believe there was a time women didn't have the right to control their own bodies anymore than we can believe they once didn't have the right to vote. Come on board, help me shape this thing.
What do you say?
Sorry, Harry, Now, if you'll excuse me, I got a game to.
Play, Lewis you got a second for you, Harry, take a seat.
You probably know why I am here.
I want the husband to have us say take it or leave it.
You want to require a husband's approval for his wife's abortion. Brendan and Douglas will never go for it.
Persuade them, Harry, you're right and the decision. That's your job. I can't risk alienating the votes we already have.
The father has just as many rights to the child as the mother, Harry. This shouldn't be controversial.
Oh christ Powell, we can't even call it a child.
What planet are you want? Will lose?
Douglas and Marshall for sure, they're good.
You got a second.
Don't use privacy, Harry Good.
The court is established the right to privacy over and over. It's a natural fit for this case.
Except for one thing. Show me where in the Constitution it explicitly mentions the right to privacy?
What are you an originalist?
Now?
Who cares if it's not in the text. We've recognized zones of privacy before.
This decision needs to be rock solid, Harry, rock solid. Root it in a written provision, not something that nine of us got together and made up like a zone of privacy.
Well, Potter, what's it gonna take?
You know?
I'm leaning toward you, Harry, I.
Do what do you need to actually lay down with me?
I don't want it on the government's dime. What I can get to a place where the due process clause guarantees a woman's right to choose. But I can't get on board with forcing the state or FED to pay for the procedure.
And women who can't afford an abortion, Potter, what good is giving them the right if they can't exercise.
It, they'll find a way. If they really want it done, they'll figure it out.
Anything else.
Yeah, I want to protect all existing state statutes.
Oh holy well, well that was humiliating.
Thank you, Charlie. Now we know why I became a judge and not a politician.
Where the hell are we.
To a unanimous decision? Not going to happen, your honor, But we can still get this done. How do you feel about Justice Powell's demands?
I feel sick about them. Thank you very much, as do Douglas and Marshall.
Sir, but I think maybe maybe we could compromise enough to get Powell on board without completely losing the Liberals. As for Justice, Wife and.
Stewarts, Whizzer and Potter are lost causes if we don't alienate their good Christ.
What are these names?
It sounds like the cast of a children's play. Anyway, Wizards completely beyond redemption. I'm afraid I agree you Runner, So that puts us at a very very shaky five for sir.
Not good enough. It may have to be, sir, Nope, let's keep working. Knock Warren, mister Chief Justice. Hello, don't get up. What can I do for you? Warren?
Word around here, Harry, is that you've been doing some horse trading.
I learned from the best. I don't get it.
Why are you trying so hard on this one?
Don't think you've escaped. I'm coming for you next. What on earth has gotten into you? I need your vote, Warren, and I intend to get it.
Oh Lord, I can see through the window. The rain is coming. She's a talker.
I'll be on the sidewalk. Keep it brief, Sarah. Remember it's a numbers game.
Hi, Lorraine, how you doing, Sarah Weddington?
What are you doing on my porch? Come in, come in.
I'd love to, but my campaign manager would have my head. That's him on the sidewalk.
There, Payson campaign manager. That's right. I'm running for the state House and i'd love your vote. Lorraine.
Here, take this literature. I'm dropping it off for everyone in the district. How about you give it a read?
Of course, give it here.
Thanks Lorraine. I gotta go, but let's have dinner somenight. Okay.
Oh, i'd love that. We haven't seen Ron in ages?
Oh yet?
What ever happened with that big case you went to Washington for, Sarah?
Good question. I guess they'll get around to making a decision one of these days.
Ah.
Must be hard not knowing if you won or lost. You probably put a lot of work into that.
Huh just a bit anyway, Thanks for your support. I got about a million more.
Ho good luck, Honey, your honor.
Do you have a second, Charlie, sit down? Look this over? Will you tell me if the language is clear?
Yes, sir, I actually have something that I think you need to hear. Well, spit it out, you know how We've been trying to sway Justice Stewart to our side for weeks.
Yes, Charlie, I'm aware Potter Stewart won't even read the damn thing. I've done everything short of show up at his house and read it to him as a bedtime story.
I have reason to believe he may be swayable.
Stuart m doubtful appointed by a Republican when against all the equal protection cases. But your honor even more relevant for us, he dissented in Griswold in the ground said he didn't believe the right to privacy exists in the fourteenth Amendment.
I know all that, sir, but I've just found out some interesting information, the kind that suggests the marble that just a Stewart vote is etchedon.
Might have a few cracks, the marble that when you're on the Supreme Court someday, Charlie, which you no doubt will be, you can savor it when you have pertinent information, but while you're still a clerk out with it.
Apologies, sir, my information isn't regarding Stewart exactly. It's his wife.
No, No, absolutely not. Whatever it is. I'm not interested.
Family crosses the line Charlie, I wouldn't want other justices discussing Dottie.
Missus Blackman doesn't volunteer for Planned parenthood, Your honor.
What did you just say?
Justice Stewart's wife has been volunteering out of Virginia branch of Planned Paranhaud for years.
Well, that's very interesting.
I gotta think Stuart's vote is up for grabs, Your honor. Perhaps a deal can be made, and if it can, then it would be six votes solid majority, sir, and could maybe sway the chief too. We'd have to play it just right, Yes, your Honor, I agree.
I can't go directly to Steward because it'll get right back to Warren, and Warren will immediately bring Stuart into line.
I can backchannel with one of Stuart's clerks, Sir.
No, all four of his clerks are suck ups to Warren. They'd love nothing more than to go running to him. I may have another idea.
How's your backstroke, Charlie, Justice Stewart, Can I help you?
It's Charlie, Sir, Justice Blackman's clerk.
What are you doing here?
You work out of this gym?
I got a day pass, your Honor. I was hoping we could speak.
What's this all about, Charlie. This is a little too cloak and dagger for my liking.
I'm very sorry, your honor. As you know, Justice Blackman is attempting to assemble a majority on Row.
What exactly do you have to say to me that can't be said in my chambers in an hour, Sir.
Justice Blackman is willing to compromise if he comes to your chambers. He knows that whatever he says will go right back to the Chief. Your clerks are close with Justice Berger, Sir.
I see what sort of compromise is your boss thinking.
Timing, Your honor, excuse me. We know your feelings on the Fourteenth Amendments limitations, but we're hoping you feel some flexibility on how far those limits extend. For instance, what if abortion were legal in the first trimester of a pregnancy across the nation?
What the hell is a trimester?
We know that it's never been used in this context before, sir, but from Justice Blackman's research at Mayo, it seems to him a fertile place for compromise. Doctors already break pregnancies into three periods during the first trimester, when the procedure is much safer than actually giving birth. We wouldn't allow state governments to restrict abortions in the second trimester there are slightly more risks. Will let states protect the other by enacting regulations as long as they're reasonable.
And the third trimester? What does your boss say about that?
His research indicates that by the final third of the pregnancy the fetus is viable. Therefore will allow the state to protect the prenatal life if it wishes. Interesting justice, Blackman thought that might be a compromise. You could get on board with your honor? Was he right?
How soon can Harry turn around a new draft, one that reflects this trimester idea?
Is that a yes, your honor, it's.
A maybe, son, But more than anything, this needs to get done fast. You have no idea How much I hear about this at home every night?
Yes, sir, but there's a bit of a hold up with the revision, sir. What hold up the chief, sir? He's still refusing to come down on either side. It appears that he's stalling.
Why on earth would Warren be stalling?
We got steaks here, get your steaks medium, rare, nice and hot.
We got burgers.
We got cheeseburgers.
Take your picks.
Someone's in a good mood, Dottie.
It turns out the way of the world was a lot to carry around cheeseburger from my love.
Oh, I could get used to this.
The end is nigh, Dottie. I can almost taste it.
Oh, that's wonderful, sweetheart. And how did you do it? How did you convince the others to come on board?
Compromise resolved? My natural charm? I got it all, baby, We had the majority locked up. I just need a straggler to come on board. Let me guess who you know exactly who the question is? Why I haven't figured that one out yet.
Oh, I'll get it. It's probably Ron and Belle. I'm across the street, Harry. We've got visitors.
Justice Blackman, Hello, who are you?
Special Agent Ambler?
FBI?
This is special Agent Cutters.
Has something happened?
Not at all, Man.
We didn't mean to frighten you.
Believe me, she's not frightened. Why have you gentlemen come to my home stake?
Smell delicious, Justice Blackman, you must speak quite a chef.
What exactly can't wait until I'm at the courthouse.
This is a courtesy call, your honor. Think of it as a consultation.
Consultation about what justice Blackman.
It's no secret that you're drafting the opinion on Roe v.
Wade.
If you come down against the abortion laws, you and your family can expect to receive scores of death threats. Our daughters too, Yes, missus Blackman, Nancy, Sally and Susan.
Two now hold on a moment.
Like I said, this is merely a security consultation, your honor.
Harry, put down the spatulot, come inside. Let's all sit down and discuss this.
Dottie. They're trying to frighten us, your honor, Please don't.
My wife and I are well aware of the controversy, Agent Ambler.
We live in the real world. We read the news, watch TV same as you. We know what's coming, Harry.
They're just trying to help.
No, Dottie, they're trying to scare us, Agent Ambler. Tell mister Nixon and his Attorney General that we will not be intimidated by foot soldiers of the Justice Department into thinking twice about striking down the law they support.
I think you misunderstand our attention.
Your honor.
Yeah, maybe maybe not. My only question is how does the president know where we stand? But I think I can work that one out on my own. Dottie, please show these agents to the door.
I think they can find it themselves. Goodbye, gentlemen.
Never going to happen, Sarah, I hear that a lot. Mike, there's time. Take my word for it. You only just won your election. You're a freshman legislator. You don't have the juice to get this.
Through, but you do, Mike. That's why I came to you. You've been in the state House. What two hundred three hundred years?
You do really asking a favor of me? Right?
The public is in favor of this bill. Every poll shows people want to legalize abortion.
We even compromised on we.
Cannot legalize abortion this way. Your opponents may be in the minority, but they scare people. No representative here will take this up, but especially not while the Supreme Court is still deciding the issue. Hell, it's your case they're deciding, Sarah.
I'll go gray waiting for them to make up their minds. Mike, Let's go around them. Let's push this bill through.
Never going to happen. I know you're frustrated, Sarah. But the court will announce their decision soon. We'll know if you want a lost and we can go from there. Okay, just try to relax.
Thanks for meeting me.
How do you even know about this place, Harry?
The floors are.
Sticky, Susan recommended it. Things have been tense in the courthouse. I thought this might be a place we could speak freely.
I see, so this conversation won't be tense.
Then that's up to you, Warren. You've had quite a few weeks. What's the count now?
Six ' to two in your favor. If I didn't know better, i'd say you were a natural politician.
Harry. Come on now, no insults. You know I don't mean it as one. Fine. I hope you know that.
I don't think any less of you, Warren, simply because you know how to get things done.
Sure you do. But that's all right.
You've always looked down on me, airy because I worked as an insurance salesman while you were at Harvard.
It's okay.
I don't feel a bit ashamed. I ended up here because I get things done. It's how you ended up here too, If we're being honest.
You mean you got me my seat.
No, I mean I made you a damn judge in the first place. Do you think you ever would have considered the bench if I hadn't encouraged you. I shaped every step of your career, Harry. I miss Minnesota more and more. I used to live for our early morning hikes. It was a reason to get out of bed. Remember how much we used to worry about whether we'd ever make our mark on the world. Harry. I believe our fifteen year old selves would be awfully proud of our sixty year old selves.
I don't deny you've shaped my career, Warren. You don't see it, but you help shape this decision too.
What does that mean?
Your mother raised you all by herself. She practically raised us together. It's from her that I learned the burdens face by a single mother.
Wow, bringing my mother into it, that's pretty low.
It's time to come on board, Warren. I need your vote.
I read your latest draft, Harry. It's an improvement, but it's still a mess. An implicit right to privacy. I may not have gone to Harvard, but even I know how weak that is.
I would have They're based it on the guarantee of equal protection, but I would have lost two votes plus yours.
I haven't decided my vote yet. I'm aware of that, Warren.
Everyone is aware of that, and we're not getting off these stools until you do tell me.
Is it just to distinguish yourself from me?
What are you talking about?
Pretty extreme, Harry, becoming the architect of the pro abortion movement, just so people don't think you're in my pocket and to make me look like.
A fool, That's not the reason, Warrant. I'm sorry he didn't end up choosing you for the vice.
Presidency, Sure you were, Ry. Nixon is the reason you haven't taken a position.
Yet, isn't me. You're terrified of embarrassing the president. If a court on which Nixon appointed half the members, including the chief, comes down on the pro choice side, he'll be humiliated. And you're about to swear him in for his second term. You have to look Nixon in the eye and account for what your court did.
You're out of bounds, Harry. If any other justice spoke to me like that.
But I'm not any other justice, Warren, and you wouldn't try to manipulate any other justice the way You've tried to manipulate.
Me, And what does that mean?
You assign this decision to me when it wasn't even yours to assign. If Douglas had written it as he rightfully should have, it would have been handed down months ago. You wanted it delayed, and you wanted to control it so you could maintain power but not have the burden of your name on the decision that tears this country apart. I'm sorry it hasn't worked out that way.
You don't know what you're talking about, Harry. Everything you said is right, Warren.
I did become a judge because I saw my lifelong best friend do it. I did get my seat on this court because you whispered my name in the right ear. And if you think that puts me in your debt, you're probably right about that also. But none of that matters right now. I have a six vote coalition. It's currently being held together by a rubber band and some masking tape.
You're the Chief Justice.
You need to make a decision, and you need to do it in the next twenty four hours.
You'll get it when I'm ready. No, now, I'll get it tomorrow. Warren.
Make a choice or so help me, I will deliver an eight man decision and the Chief Justice's name will be left off. The most important Supreme Court decision of the century. After that, you'll really wish you got the nod for the vice presidency because your political weight will rank somewhere between Bob Hope and the lady who does a bounty paper towel commercials. Tomorrow, Warren, the decision isn't perfect, and guess what.
Neither are we.
Protesters and supporters alike are lined up outside the United States Supreme Court this afternoon as a decision in the most hotly debated case in years is set to be delivered. In an unusual move, Justice Harry Blackman, who wrote the majority opinion, will read the decision from the bench alone. The overflowing courtroom is filled with reporters ready to take down his every word. Letters have been pouring into the courthouse, mostly addressed to Justice black Men, at the rate of three thousand a day. Court insiders say the tone of the letters is extremely vitriolic. One such letter urged Justice Blackman's immediate resignation from the court if he strikes down the abortion laws. Justice Blackman is said to have sent a reply to the letter. Dear sir, no, sincerely, Harry a black man.
Harry, sweetheart, you ready for this?
Absolutely not.
Do you want to hear some good news?
Lyndon Johnson just died, Dottie. I disagreed with the man, but I hardly wish to know.
What I mean is maybe no one will even notice. Rowade LBJ will take up all the ink tomorrow. You don't look comforted, Harry.
Tell me I'm making the right decision, Dottie.
I can't do that, sweetheart, No one can.
We're a Republican appointed court that's about to strike down the abortion laws. That has to be a good thing, right. It shows we're independent. We're not beholden to the political party that appointed us. Because the moment that changes, it's over. That'll be the end of the people's belief and our ability to decide what's just based on the merits will become just as politic is the other two branches of government.
That's a worry for another day. Harry, Now go do this.
Welcome, Let's get down to it, shall we, black men, h delivering the opinion of the court, we forthwith acknowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, and of the vigorous opposing views, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the.
Subject inspires the Texas statutes under attack here?
All right, everyone, everybody approximately, Hey, yes.
He's reading the decision.
Sarah.
You will write overtones and to complicate and not to simplify the problem.
One's philosophy, one's exposure to the raw edges of human experience, one's religious training, one's attitudes towards life and family, and the moral standards one establishes and seeks to observe are all likely to influence one's thinking about abortion. Today, we assert that the right of privacy is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. Fantastical?
What do you just think? Did I hear that rush?
It's more than we hoped for, Sarah.
This we want, my God, we want.
I choose to read opinion from the bench to provide immediate information to those state legislators still in session who might want to begin revising or appealing their laws.
It is so ordered.
It's an unmitigated victory for the freedom of choice and the triumph of principle over partisan politics, Justices Marshall, Stuart Brennan, Douglas Powell, and Chief Justice Warren Berger all joining with Justice Harry Blackman in the majority. It appears that the lead attorney, Sarah Weddington, who was already the youngest woman ever to argue before the Supreme Court, has just become the youngest person ever to win year. Given that it was her very first case and she had apparently never even been inside a courtroom before, It's an astonishing feat and a record likely to stand for some time. With partisan politics encroaching more and more into the nation's hallooed institutions, perhaps Ms Weddington's record will persist even longer than today's decision will stand.
Supreme. The Battle Farrow from iHeart Podcasts, created and written by Aaron Tracy, directed by Rachel Winter, starring Maya Hawk, William h. Macy, and Abigail Breslin, also featuring Laura Bonanti as b Andrea Savage as deb William Fickner as Warren Felicity Huffman as Dottie, Garrett Hedlund as Ron, Sophia Macy as Sally, Veronica Slowakowska as Susie Charlie B. Foster as Charlie, Peter Oldring as j Floyd, Luke Kirby as Roy Lacrisia Brown as Grace Kim Yancy Moore as Wanda, Megan Grant as Polly Jin Colella as Annette Tearsa Mans as Doctor Kaplan, Ashley as Q as Katie, Aaron Cavitt as Mikey, Joe Costa as Justice Thurgood Marshall, Ryan Beale as Sam Josh Hamilton as Reverend Wriggle, Aaron Tracy as Justice Brennan, Sam Stump as Justice Powell, Richard Newman as Justice Stewart, Bill Moundy as Justice White, Jacob Vonichael as George, James Naughton as Representative Simmons, Chris Redman as FBI Agent Ambler, and Katie Couric as the Reporter. Additional performances by Dante Bonner, Mark Chavez, Andrew Barber, Samuel Farnsworth, s a Ottowell, Amy Good Murphy, Kira Naughton, Paul Teduskiny, Karen Foreman, Sarah Ericksson, Barbara Pollard, Mattie Kelly, Melanie Harrison, Suzanne pot Rock, David carl Christine Borderlin, Angela Gallanapolis, Sabrina Brathwaite, Katie Jensen, Katie Lore, Pat Kelly and Max Collins. Executive produced by Eva Longoria, Ben Spector, Rachel Winter and Aaron Tracy, as well as Katrina Norvell and Emma Stump from iHeart produced by Kelly and Kelly. Executive producers for Kelly and Kelly are Chris Kelly, Lauren Berkovich and Pat Kelly. Produced by Tamara Black for Kelly and Kelly. Director of Audio Chris Kelly. Original score by Hamilton Leitthhauser and Anna Stump. Sound designed by Paul TEDUSKINI edited by Max Collins. Narration by Lucritia Brown. For a full list of credits, please see show notes.
This is a production of Unbelievable Entertainment in partnership with iHeartRadio.