BEST OF: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on How Dark Money Captured SCOTUS

The Al Franken Podcast

News, Politics, Government, Comedy

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Best Of episode, we revisit our 2023 conversation with Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. We talked to Sen. Whitehouse about his book, “The Scheme,” which examines how dark money and radical right wing activists worked tirelessly to gain control of the Supreme Court.

Sen. Whitehouse lays out all the key players in this effort, including The Federalist Society and Leonard Leo, the main architect of this mission. By filtering dark money through dozens of agencies and blocking Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, the right wing has a chokehold on the SCOTUS majority. As a result, we've seen rulings that are horrible for abortion rights, climate change, voting rights, and so much more.

Sen. Whitehouse also explains some of the ways that the extremist takeover of the judicial system can be reigned in, but it's going to be a fight.

READ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's book, “The Scheme”: https://thenewpress.org/books/9781620978344/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody, happy New Year. Well, we got a great one today, you know, for a change,
0:09.9	because it's the best of. Our 2023 interview with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on his book,
0:17.7	The Scheme, how the right wing used dark money to capture the Supreme Court.
0:23.8	And of course, we've seen the horrible decisions the court has made since Trump was elected,
0:30.0	Dobbs, of course, EPA v. West Virginia, which limited the EPA's power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
0:40.8	The aptly named Trump v. United States, which gave immunity to presidents if they break the law in the course of official conduct,
0:52.0	to its recent decision to give Texas five new racially gerrymandered
0:57.3	Republican seats in the House. All of these six three decisions. But the court making terrible
1:05.9	right-wing rulings predates Trump with five-four decisions like Citizens United in 2010, which opened
1:13.4	the floodgates to virtually unlimited money in political spending. Shelby County in 2013
1:21.5	was struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, ending federal preclearance of states and localities that
1:29.4	had a history of voter suppression. Well, the Fourth Circuit wrote that in the very next
1:36.9	election, North Carolina targeted black people with, quote, almost surgical precision. Of course, that decision came out two years
1:47.2	after that election, and it's been right-wing money that's fueled this all the way.
1:55.4	I served with Sheldon on the Judiciary Committee, and after Dick Durbin retires, I expect. He will be
2:02.7	the top Democrat on the committee.
2:04.9	Hopefully it's chairman.
2:06.8	Well, let's go to my discussion
2:08.5	with Senator Sheldon
2:10.5	White House. It's a great one for a change.
2:13.6	You know, because
2:14.9	it's the best of. And
	...

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