Wasn't there a book about the Supreme Court a few years back? It included telling about the Roe V Wade decision, that the justices had already decided that they wanted abortion legal, they just needed Blackmun to write down why. His first opinion, which said that they baby wasn't human, was rejected so then he wrote the final opinion which said they didn't care about the baby and based the 'right' solely on privacy.
Please correct me if I got this wrong.
I am unsure about this book. As for Blackmun's tortured reasoning, here's my favorite part of the essay:
While considering a case with profound implications for bio-ethics, they sought guidance in the wisdom of people who thought that the bowel was the seat of human emotion, which gives new meaning to the phrase "You move me." One might as well base nuclear energy policy on the work habits of Mayan pyramid builders.