Welcome to Commune, a global wellness community and online course platform

featuring some of the world's greatest teachers. We are on a mission to inspire, heal,

pass down wisdom, and bring the world closer together. This is the Commune podcast,

where each week we explore the ideas and practices that help us live this healthy, connected,

and purpose-filled life. In addition to our courses on meditation, personal development,

and yoga, Commune also offers an array of social impact courses,

including unwinding prejudice, redefining leadership, and organize a march.

If you're interested in enrolling in any of those course offerings for free,

please email me at jeff k at onecommune.com.

I think we can all benefit from learning and growing in order to better serve our communities. Okay, so my guest on the show today is the Honorable Vaughn Richard

Walker. A Judge Walker served as a United States district Judge of the U.S. District Court of the

Northern District of California from 1989 to 2011. This extremely prominent court hears a plethora of

high-profile cases. Perhaps most notably, Walker presided over the original trial in Hollingsworth v. Perry,

where he found California's Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional.

This decision paved the way for the legalization of gay marriage.

His decision was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. So Judge Walker joins me today to discuss

the societal role of the Supreme Court and the nature of the court system. We explore a

variety of topics, including the court as a remaining bastion for thoughtful discourse, and of course the impact of Justice Ginsburg's

death and the impending potential appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the bench.

I can think of no better human on the face of the planet to lend insight into this moment vis-à-vis

the court. And personally, I found our conversation to be not only a civics lesson, but also a reassurance

in the resilience of our democracy.

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