How can the Supreme Court maintain impartiality in America's modern political climate?

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🗓️ 29 December 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the holiday break, we're bringing back an old episode that has resonance today. What happens to the public's perceived independence of the Supreme Court when confirmation processes devolve into partisan battles? Original air date: October 5, 2018

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey listeners, Allison here. Can He Do That? Is still on holiday break this week. But we went into our four-year-long
0:06.2	archive to bring back an episode with themes that we really think resonate with the state of the country's
0:11.6	politics today. We originally published this episode in October of 2016 during the debate over
0:17.5	Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court. It looks at what happens to the perceived independence of the Supreme Court when confirmation
0:24.5	processes devolve into partisan battles.
0:27.8	Since two years ago, when this episode originally aired, we now have a conservative majority
0:32.3	Supreme Court with three justices appointed during this presidency, and that court is weighing in on major decisions related to the 2020 election and so much more.
0:41.3	So it's interesting to listen back now to our deep dive into the evolving relationship between politics and the judiciary.
0:47.3	Here's our episode from October 2018.
0:50.3	Republicans in the Senate have been rushing to jam this nomination through before the midterm elections.
0:58.3	One thing is clear. Democrats want to block Kavanaugh and hold the seat open until the 2020 election.
1:04.2	This is about politics and this is about power, pure and simple.
1:09.3	The confirmation process of Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been tumultuous, wrought with partisan division, wrenching testimony, and calls for FBI investigations.
1:21.2	The United States Supreme Court is meant to be an apolitical institution, which relies on that impartiality in order to interpret our country's constitution.
1:31.3	It relies on that impartiality to best fulfill its role as an independent branch
1:37.3	in our system designed to offer checks on the legislative and executive branches.
1:42.3	So what happens when Supreme Court nominations devolve into partisan battles,
1:49.5	and confirmation votes fall strictly along party lines?
1:53.4	Is this the way our government and our judiciary should work?
1:56.7	Is this the way it's always worked, or are we looking at something new?
2:02.9	This is can He Do That?
2:04.8	A podcast that explores the powers and limitations of the American presidency.
	...

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