The Supreme Court and Partisan Politics
To the Point
KCRW
4.4 • 583 Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2019
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Supreme Revenge” describes increasingly bitter battles over the highest court in the land. It’s the title of a Frontline documentary featuring Reagan, Obama and Trump. The age and health of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg make the Supreme Court a crucial issue in next year’s presidential campaign.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Outmaneuvering Democrats, confirming conservative judges were McConnell's specialties. |
| 0:06.5 | Brett Kavanaugh would be his crowning achievement. |
| 0:10.0 | It's moving the court to a really, very, very conservative court. |
| 0:15.5 | The U.S. Supreme Court and partisan politics are back in the news this week, not for something the court did, |
| 0:22.1 | but for something it didn't do. Hello again, I'm Orvin Olney. It declined to consider two |
| 0:27.2 | challenges to Roe versus Wade, which gave every woman a constitutional right to abortion in |
| 0:32.3 | 1972. President Trump's latest appointment, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, has created expectations. |
| 0:39.5 | He's been promoted as the final step in almost 50 years of effort to produce a court willing to overturn Roe v. Wade. |
| 0:47.5 | No explanation was given for this week's refusal to take up the issue and it's likely just a delay. |
| 0:53.5 | But it's an opportunity to take a look at the |
| 0:56.0 | court, its tremendous power over the lives of Americans, and the role of politics and transforming |
| 1:02.6 | the court's makeup from one time to another. The latest front-line documentary on PBS is called |
| 1:09.2 | Supreme Revenge, and the title is apt. |
| 1:13.1 | Senate confirmation of recent nominees have not been orderly processes, but all-out political |
| 1:18.7 | campaigns. |
| 1:20.3 | Michael Kirk is the director of Supreme Revenge. |
| 1:23.7 | Michael, welcome. |
| 1:25.3 | Thank you, Warren. |
| 1:26.1 | It's great to be talking to you. |
| 1:27.5 | Let's go to the title. Who's getting revenge on who? Ha ha, welcome. Thank you, Warren. It's great to be talking to you. Let's go to the title. |
| 1:28.7 | Who's Getting Revenge on Who? |
| 1:32.0 | Well, I think it's kind of a two-part revenge, but it's young first-term Mitch McConnell |
... |
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