The Powell Memo [TEASER]

5-4

Prologue Projects

News Commentary, News, Government

4.6 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before he was ever a Supreme Court justice, Lewis Powell was an enterprising corporate attorney representing tobacco companies and calling on CEO’s to get off their asses and flood American politics with money.

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5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. This episode was produced by Dustin DeSoto. Leon Neyfakh provides editorial support. Our researcher is Jonathan DeBruin, and our website was designed by Peter Murphy. Our artwork is by Teddy Blanks at Chips NY, and our theme song is by Spatial Relations.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Is that my good butter?
0:01.3	Can't discuss that now, March.
0:02.9	I have to write another delicious memo.
0:05.9	Mmm, memo.
0:11.7	Hey, everyone.
0:13.1	This is Leon from Prologue Projects.
0:15.7	On this subscriber-only episode of 5 to 4,
0:18.9	Peter, Riannon, and Michael are talking about the Powell memo.
0:23.0	Lewis Powell was a conservative Supreme Court justice who sat on the bench from 1972 until
0:27.9	1987. But before joining the court, Powell wrote an influential memo laying out a strategy
0:33.9	for corporations to build political power in the courts, the academy, and the media,
0:39.3	and to mount a counterattack against the social movements of the 1960s.
0:43.9	As you'll hear, the Powell memo can now be seen as an opening salvo in the conservative
0:48.6	legal movement's organized campaign to transform American politics.
0:52.8	I think we're seeing the culmination of the Powell Doctrine, so to speak, which is that
0:58.8	corporations should not be checked, should not be fettered, and that they have free reign of
1:04.4	the land.
1:05.0	This is 5 to 4, a podcast about how much the Supreme Court and corporations suck.
1:19.2	Music a podcast about how much the Supreme Court and corporations suck. Welcome to 5 to 4, where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have stretched our patients like an Adrian Brody speech at the Oscars.
1:27.9	Nice. I'm Peter. I'm speech at the Oscars. Nice.
1:28.9	I'm Peter.
1:29.9	I'm here with Riannon.
	...

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