Covering SCOTUS in the Age of Trump

A conversation with Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick

Yet in the final days of the last session, Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by George W. Bush, voted with the liberal minority in two key cases. Philosophically committed to consensus-building, this is something Roberts has done at key moments since 2016, raising questions about whether he had taken Kennedy’s ...
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Covering SCOTUS in the Age of Trump

Mike Pompeo’s Originalist Foreign Policy

The Commission’s report gives ammunition to partisans who aim to weaken core constitutional protections within the United States

This justification is a pretext. While pretending to strengthen protection for human rights abroad, the Commission’s report gives ammunition to partisans who aim to weaken core constitutional protections within the United States. Pompeo and the Commission’s report embrace an “originalist” vision of America’s founding. Originalism is a doctrine in constitutional law ...
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Mike Pompeo’s Originalist Foreign Policy

Democratic Socialists, Court Packing, and Audiobooks

Past Present Episode 138

In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate the rise of Democratic Socialists, plans for packing the Supreme Court, and the increasing popularity of audiobooks. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Thanks to the recent upset victory of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in a New York Democratic primary, socialism appears to ...
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Democratic Socialists, Court Packing, and Audiobooks

Democracy and the Uterus

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Bodily Autonomy

I was born out of a policy that forbade women to have control over their bodies until they raised 4 children. Under communist Romania, starting in 1967 and until 1989, many babies were born because women were refused control over their sexuality and abortion was made illegal. Most women wanted ...
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