The Supreme Court's power grab

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2022

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing talks with Harvard Law professor Nikolas Bowie about the U.S. Supreme Court's recently-concluded term, which produced landmark opinions restricting the power of the EPA, expanding gun rights, and overturning Roe v. Wade. They discuss how the conservative court's arguments are structured and why they are in fact quite radical, what "legal liberalism" is and whether it has just been decisively repudiated, and whether there are any reforms that could stop the conservative majority from reshaping American jurisprudence. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Nikolas Bowie (@nikobowie), Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law, Harvard Law School References: Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, Public Meeting, Panel 1 (C-SPAN; June 30) "How the Supreme Court dominates our democracy" by Niko Bowie (Washington Post; July 16, 2021) A Twitter thread on the repudiation of legal liberalism, by @nikobowie Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health (SCOTUS; June 24) 42 U.S. Code §1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1868) New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen (SCOTUS; June 23) Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (SCOTUS; June 29, 1992) Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It) by Elizabeth Anderson (Princeton; 2017) "A new Supreme Court case is the biggest threat to US democracy since January 6" by Ian Millhiser (Vox; June 30) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Has the Supreme Court lost the American people?
0:04.0	I'm Sean Elling, and I'm your host for Vox Conversations.
0:11.0	I'm obviously not asking this question in a vacuum.
0:24.0	As of today, we're a few weeks removed from the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade.
0:30.0	Dobbs is a massively consequential decision, a terrible decision in my opinion,
0:36.0	and arguably a watershed moment for the court, whatever your politics and whatever you think of abortion.
0:44.0	This much is clear.
0:47.0	The court made a self-conscious choice to unsettle established law, and that choice is a political choice.
0:57.0	It was a decision to intervene when intervention was not required.
1:04.0	Now that we've had some time to process not just this case, but some of the other extreme opinions from the court's most recent term,
1:13.0	on everything from gun rights to environmental regulation, I wanted to bring on an expert to help us think it all through.
1:22.0	Nico Bowie is a Harvard Law Professor and a former clerk for Justice Sotomayor, and he writes about the issues at the core of this conversation.
1:33.0	Last year, when President Biden's commission on the Supreme Court was gathering testimony from lawyers, scholars, and court experts,
1:42.0	Bowie's voice stood out.
1:47.0	But I think our commitment to democracy demands that we be honest about the harm that Supreme Court has in institution causes.
1:55.0	We are all harmed when some of us can't afford health care because the court declared the expansion of Medicaid unconstitutional.
2:03.0	We are all harmed when some of us cannot vote because the court rendered the Voting Rights Act ineffective, and we are all harmed when some of our younger colleagues are harassed at the beginning of their legal careers by judges to whom no one ever says no.
2:20.0	Bowie and I talk about the history and role of the court, whether these conservative justices sacrificed the court's legitimacy for the sake of political power, and if he sees any path to reform that might save the court from itself.
2:35.0	Professor Nico Bowie, welcome to the show.
2:42.0	Thanks for having me. It's been a few weeks since Roe was overturned, the draft opinion obviously was leaked months ago.
2:51.0	We all kind of knew this was coming. But what was your reaction when it actually happened?
2:59.0	My immediate reaction was sadness.
	...

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