Bad Vibes & Broken Oaths (with Leah Litman)

The Oath and The Office

Corey Brettschneider

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 591 Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Law professor Leah Litman (University of Michigan) – co-host of Strict Scrutiny – joins co-hosts Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang on The Oath and The Office for an urgent, witty deep-dive into the chaos at the heart of American law and democracy. Litman discusses her new book Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes, shredding the myth of a neutral Court. Litman compares today’s conservative-dominated Supreme Court to Patrick Bateman in American Psycho – outwardly polished but fueled by disturbing impulses. With principled passion and humor, she unpacks the so-called “Kensurrection” and reflects on the toxic legacy of Citizens United. It’s a candid conversation that exposes the Court’s bad vibes and asks: Who will uphold our Constitution when those entrusted to protect it go lawless? But first, Corey and John break down this week’s legal news highlights:

Trump’s Oath Controversy – Former President Donald Trump makes a jaw-dropping assertion that the presidential oath might not obligate him to uphold the Constitution – even though those 35 words clearly bind him to “preserve, protect, and defend” it.
Executive Order Smackdown – A federal court pushes back on Trump’s latest executive order aimed at punishing his political opponents (and their law firms), ruling that even a president can’t weaponize the law to settle scores.
DOGE Under Fire – A flurry of over 30 lawsuits challenges the constitutionality of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), raising alarm bells over separation of powers. Can Elon Musk really run roughshod over the administrative state without Senate confirmation?
Justice Jackson Claps Back – In a rare move, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issues a public rebuke of Trump’s attacks on the judiciary – an unprecedented show of internal judicial solidarity against political intimidation.

Mixing sharp wit with serious constitutional insight, this episode delivers hard-hitting analysis with heart. It’s a fearless, principled discussion that balances outrage and optimism—guaranteed to resonate with Strict Scrutiny fans and anyone worried about democracy’s future. Subscribe to The Oath and The Office on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for your weekly guide to law, power, and the fight to defend the Constitution.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome once again to another installment of the Oath and the Office.
0:13.2	I'm John Fuglesang and people of earth.
0:15.2	Let me be hype man and introduce the professor with the PhD in politics from Princeton,
0:20.3	the law degree from Stanford,
0:22.1	a man who has enriched the minds of students at Brown University and enriched the minds of readers
0:27.0	of the New York Times, CNN, Time magazine, Politico. You should already own his most recent book,
0:33.0	The Presidents and the People, Five Leaders who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens who fought to
0:37.2	defend it. People of Earth, you wonder the best, you got the best, the leaders who threatened democracy and the citizens who fought to defend it.
0:37.7	People of Earth, you wanted the best, you got the best, the author of The Oath and the Office,
0:42.4	Professor Corey Brett Schneider.
0:44.8	Thanks, John. What a pleasure to do this with you every week. We're talking about, of course,
0:49.1	the threat to democracy, the way that Donald Trump has undermined his oath to preserve,
0:54.1	protect and defend the Constitution, but we're undermined his oath to preserve, protect, and defend
0:55.1	the Constitution, but we're doing it with humor, and you are such a huge part of it, it makes it
0:59.8	a pleasure.
1:00.9	Humor is a very generous term for what I bring, but at a time when every sentence our president
1:05.8	said could be its own entry into the diagnostic statistical manual of mental disorders, I'm
1:10.4	really glad you're here,
1:11.3	Corey, to talk us all off a ledge in the age of H. Martin. There's a lot we have to get to, but I want to
1:16.3	just begin by saying, Professor, before we go into all the constitutional malfeasance, I am so
1:21.3	excited about today's special guest, Professor Leah Littman, author of Lawless, how the Supreme Court runs on conservative grievance, fringe theories, and bad vibes.
1:32.4	I'm so excited.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Corey Brettschneider, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Corey Brettschneider and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.