Audio Series tells the two-track story of Roe v. Wade decision
Series creator Aaron Tracy sat down to discuss the characters and events surrounding the landmark case
A new podcast dramatically depicts the events and characters responsible for the formation of the Roe v. Wade decision.
Supreme: The Battle for Roe features Maya Hawke as Sarah Weddington, the young lawyer who led the plaintiffs' challenge to the Texas abortion law that had been in place before the opinion was handed down. William H. Macy plays Harry Blackmun, who wrote Roe. Executive producers include Eva Longoria, Rachel Winter, Ben Spector and Aaron Tracy, who wrote and created the series that’s available on iHeart and Spotify among other places.
Tracy spoke to Repro Rights Now about his creative process and research going into the podcast. Tracy conceptualized the series when he was in graduate school. He had heard that the lawyer behind Roe was just 26 years old. The youth of such a pivotal person in history intrigued him.
“That always stuck with me,” Tracy said. “I just thought that that was such an extraordinary fact.”
The podcast begins with Sarah Weddington, a high-achiever in law school, attempting and failing to get a job at any Texas law firm to which she applied. Most of the men who interviewed her gave sexist reasons as to why she shouldn’t be hired. Harry Blackmun gets the news that he is being considered for a Supreme Court position.
“It's telling the story on two parallel tracks,” Tracy said. “It's telling Sarah Weddington's story on one side, and it's telling Harry Blackmun's story on the other side. Both are completely new to this arena.”
Tracy’s dramatic research included reading Linda Greenhouse’s book Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun’s Supreme Court Journey. He also read Sarah Weddington’s memoir A Question of Choice. For readers who want to know more, there is also a great text written by Marian Faux called Roe v. Wade: The Untold Story of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision that Made Abortion Legal.
Some of the more interesting decisions Tracy made were with who became supporting characters. Linda Coffee, who was also counsel with Weddington, was an obvious choice. But he also created dialogue for Roy Lucas, an iconic abortion rights attorney who attempted to take the case away from Weddington by listing himself as the lawyer who would argue for abortion rights before the Supreme Court. Previously, Weddington had brought him on board the case to have his assistance. That character was voiced by Luke Kirby
On Blackmun’s side of the story, his friend and Chief Justice Warren Burger, who was reenacted by William Fichtner. They were known as the Minnesota Twins and had been best friends from the time of childhood up until they were on the Supreme Court. But the Roe decision ripped apart their friendship.
“As you'll see, in the last few episodes, Warren has had sort of an ulterior motive for assigning the case to Harry, and they disagree about which way the decision should come down,” Tracy said. “And for the rest of their lives, they continue on the court together, but they barely speak there's so much animosity over the decision.”