This is the Libertarian Podcast at the Hoover Institution.

I'm your host Tom Church and I'm joined as always by the Libertarian himself, Professor

Richard Epstein.

Here at Hoover, we know Richard as the Peter and Pearson Bedford Senior Fellow.

He's also the Lawrence HS Professor of Law at NYU and is a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago.

Richard, today we're zooming out to do a bigger picture conversation on the Supreme Court

and we're going to do that I'd like today because of a case called Biden v

Nebraska which is causing some consternation among some legal pundits and writers.

Now on its face, the case deals with President Biden's executive order on student loans,

but I actually want to set that issue aside. I think the more interesting point here to talk about is that the Supreme Court decided to hear the case before it was heard in lower federal courts. That to me is interesting because I thought the Supreme Court was the court of last resort. You got there

when issues couldn't be resolved or had to be weighed in on that the lower courts couldn't

couldn't decide.

So Richard, take me through this.

How common is it for the Supreme Court to say,

we'll handle this before anyone else?

And do you think that that's an appropriate use

of the court's power?

I think you first have to all understand what went on, you didn't quite stated correctly.

I think there were two lower courts that passed on this stuff and both of them found that the

Act was in fact or the decision of the Biden administration

exceeded its powers and were prepared to enter nationwide injunctions.

So this was a case in which if they didn't take it and they went through another level of appeal, the thing was sitting limbo even further.

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