A look into the New York Times’ investigation of Roe v. Wade being overturned

NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks to New York Times’ investigative reporter Jodi Kantor about her investigation with Adam Liptak into the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Supreme Court is notoriously secretive, so it’s shocking to read the sheer number of disclosures in a New York Times story today about the process leading up to the decision reversing Roe v. Wade. Here are just a few of the revelations. Only 4 of the 9 justices voted to hear the case. Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer nearly voted to dramatically restrict abortion in hopes of avoiding a more sweeping decision that overturned Roe. And conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch spent just ten minutes reviewing a 98-page draft opinion before signing on with no changes. Jodi Kantor reported this piece, along with her colleague Adam Liptak. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, Jodi.

JODI KANTOR: Thank you, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Let’s start with the court’s decision to take this case. You reveal there was an unexpected reversal. By whom?

KANTOR: By Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the newest member of the court. She arrived at the court, as you remember, right after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in the fall of 2020. And almost immediately, she’s confronted with this decision. You know, is the court going to take what looks like a potentially important abortion case? And in an early vote in January of 2021, she was a G, a grant, meaning she wanted to go ahead. And then a few months later, she changed her mind and became a deny. And we know a little bit about her early reasoning. We don’t know the full explanation. We know that back in January, she was concerned about timing, about being very new on the court and there just having been a change in the composition of the court.

SHAPIRO: But the result is the justices who decided to take this were A, a minority of the court, only 4 of the 9, and B, all men.

KANTOR: So as you know, the Supreme Court has its…