Clarence Thomas and his Hotep Supreme Court
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2023
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Supreme Court’s most senior member writes opinions that have an outsized impact on U.S. law. Our listeners call in to understand what really shapes Justice Thomas, and what we should expect from SCOTUS as the 2023 term comes to an end. Plus,
- Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent for The Nation and Supreme Court scholar.
- Corey Robin, Author of The Enigma of Clarence Thomas.
For more, check out our colleagues at More Perfect, the show about “how the Supreme Court got so Supreme.” The first episode of their newest season, “Clarence X,” dives into the history of Justice Thomas. It also features Corey Robin. Click here to listen or find them on Twitter @MorePerfect.
Tell us what you think. Instagram and Twitter: @noteswithkai. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or going to Instagram and clicking on the link in our bio.
“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. Tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Has your opinion of or perception of Supreme Court changed recently? |
| 0:06.8 | Definitely. |
| 0:07.8 | I don't think it's representative of America at all currently. |
| 0:10.4 | The Court has appeared a lot more partisan with the recent decisions, especially with |
| 0:15.2 | dogs, and then also with ethics scandals as well. |
| 0:19.0 | I'm not that optimistic about this Supreme Court until we get some change in there. |
| 0:23.3 | I do like the court reform measures about having rotations, maybe adding judges. |
| 0:29.3 | Supreme Court is a bit of a farce in general. |
| 0:32.3 | It's built on a lot of systemic problems, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, all that stuff. |
| 0:37.8 | The past few years specifically, it's been showing what this Supreme Court can be at its |
| 0:42.1 | worst. |
| 0:43.1 | This particular court does not care at all about precedent, and it's just been a lot more |
| 0:47.9 | blatant, pointing out a lot of things that have been there the whole time. |
| 0:59.3 | It's notes from America, I'm Kai Wright, and welcome to the show. |
| 1:15.6 | It is coming up on that time of year, the end of a Supreme Court term when the justices |
| 1:21.2 | start dropping their biggest and most controversial and anxiety-provoking decisions. |
| 1:27.9 | This year, the court still has dozens of rulings to deliver before the end of June, including |
| 1:32.5 | big decisions on affirmative action, on President Biden's student loan relief, on congressional |
| 1:38.1 | redistricting, on the Indian Child Welfare Act, and among others, this is just a sampling. |
| 1:44.1 | Of course, there is a moment when this is, rather, a moment when many, many people feel |
| 1:49.8 | like the court has just become uniquely partisan, and like the justices have become uniquely |
| 1:55.3 | unaccountable, see under Clarence Thomas. |
... |
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