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Listening to America

#1411 Supreme Court

Listening to America

Listening to America

Society & Culture, History

4.61.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2020

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week we speak with President Thomas Jefferson (as portrayed by humanities scholar Clay S. Jenkinson) about the Supreme Court. Jefferson tells us that the Constitution in Article Three contemplates a court system, but that it is quite vague and general, so the first Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 which was intended to create the infrastructure of the Judicial system. George Washington then filled every available seat through appointment.

Find this episode, along with recommended reading, on the blog. Support the show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about Clay's cultural tours and retreats at jeffersonhour.com/tours. Check out our new merch. You can find Clay's publications on our website, along with a list of his favorite books on Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and other topics. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Good Day Thomas Jefferson Hour podcast listeners and as always and I really mean this thank you for listening

0:07.8

This week we talk with President Jefferson about the Supreme Court and it was a great conversation.

0:14.3

Thank you so much for that claim.

0:16.3

He reminds me.

0:17.3

Jefferson appointed three people to the Supreme Court.

0:19.8

In the course of his time, actually they served for a long time, one 17 years, and one 30 years, they're all basically, I hate to say it, historical non-entities, and they all disappointed Jefferson in some way.

0:32.8

He wanted them to be much more states right, 10th amendment sorts of people than they turned

0:36.9

out to be.

0:37.9

And he wanted them to be more severely for limited government than they turned out to be.

0:42.6

And it reminds me of something that is said to have been said by President Eisenhower.

0:46.1

He said, I only made three mistakes in the course of my presidency and all of them are on the Supreme

0:51.6

Court. I love that.

0:54.0

There's one thing, I mean there's a lot of really important things that Jefferson said this week,

0:59.0

but there was one thing that you said that really kind of stuck out to me that I want to hang on to and that was how

1:05.9

the humanities are helping you to understand the tumultuous times that we're going through now and and I think that's so true and I try to do that and I have to say that I've come up with a much better

1:21.8

understanding viewing it through that lens of what the

1:26.5

two parties each are so passionate about believing.

1:29.5

I feel like I understand each side better through that lens.

1:33.4

I so believe that, you know, I'm so perplexed, bewildered, disappointed, disillusion, cynical.

1:41.8

You can't be here the humanity scholar. Come on man. But those are my

1:46.2

natural human feelings and but here's the good news. Instead of just

1:52.0

wallowing in that,

...

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