The Supreme Court Confronts Its Critics
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the U.S. Supreme Court begins a new session, several justices are trying to reassure the public of the court’s nonpartisanship. But, as Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick argues, when you dig into the recent decisions of the court, you’ll see it becoming steadily more political.
Guest: Dahlia Lithwick writes about the courts and the law for Slate and hosts the podcast Amicus.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everyone, Mary Harris here. |
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| 0:20.3 | Okay, on with the show. |
| 0:26.9 | When Dahlia Lithwick started reporting on the Supreme Court, there was this schedule. |
| 0:33.6 | The first Monday in October, reliable as pumpkin spice lattes, the justices would start hearing arguments that issue their most important rulings just in time for summer. |
| 0:45.0 | And then, traditionally, they disappear. |
| 0:48.5 | Oh, they travel. |
| 0:49.9 | They would, you know, it was funny. |
| 0:51.1 | Justice Kennedy would go off and teach some class. |
| 0:53.7 | I mean, they all did it. In fact, one year I wrote this slightly snarky piece about how they only worked a couple of weeks a year. |
| 1:03.3 | The Supreme Court season. Their luxurious breaks. It always made Dahlia roll her eyes a little bit. |
| 1:11.2 | Justice Stevens was really mad at me. And actually, my colleague Linda Greenhouse at the |
| 1:16.9 | Times was really mad because she was like, we work all summer long. Like, there's a lot |
| 1:20.9 | going on in the summer. And I was like, okay, I guess I'm missing it. This schedule still |
| 1:26.8 | dictates how a lot of people talk about the court. |
| 1:29.7 | When you open up the paper this week, you're going to read about the new term. |
| 1:33.6 | Reporters are going to be speculating about upcoming oral arguments, the same way TV |
| 1:38.3 | Guide used to point you to the fall sitcoms, even though this year... |
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