Verdi, Dante, and Dahlia Lithwick
A conversation with Slate's Supreme Court reporter about her new book, "Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America"...
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Handing Power Back to the Vigilantes
Texas’s new abortion ban erodes the power of the federal government to protect civil rights, and there is no reason that this mechanism couldn’t be used to undermine much more.
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The new anti-abortion law in Texas is not just about abortion; it is about undermining civil rights decisions made by the Supreme Court during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The Supreme Court declined to stop a state law that violates a constitutional right.
Since World War II, the Supreme Court has ...
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Are You Looking for Jane?
From 1965 to 1973, the women of Chicago’s Jane Collective took the right to a safe abortion into their own hands. Literally.
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This week, when a Supreme Court majority permitted Texas to eviscerate Roe v. Wade and created a legal path for other states to end legal abortion after six weeks, I dashed off an email to feminist Heather Booth.
A lifetime organizer against social injustice, Booth’s work began in the civil rights and anti-war ...
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As Biden Reverses GOP Policies, SCOTUS May Stand In the Way
An all-out legal attack by Republican attorneys general will be warmly welcomed by Trump appointees
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As the Biden administration sets out to restore a government that can regulate business to level the playing field in the United States between workers and employers, address inequality, and combat climate change, Republicans are turning to the courts to stop him.
Republican attorneys general have already launched a number of lawsuits ...
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This Is What Government Looks Like
As the winter’s Covid-19 surge pushes deaths past 500,000, the Biden administration focuses on policy
This week the United States passed the heartbreaking marker of 500,000 official deaths from COVID-19. President Biden held a ceremony to remember those lost, saying "On this solemn occasion, we reflect on their loss and on their loved ones left behind. We, as a Nation, must remember them so we ...
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Court Packing
Past Present Podcast, Episode 251
Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:
The Senate confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett have raised questions about the ethics of “court packing.” Neil recommended this Politico piece about the historical significance of FDR’s court packing. Natalia referenced Jamelle Bouie’s column defending the act, and Niki ...
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It’s…It’s…His Emails!
As voters stream to the polls, the Trump campaign frantically distracts from the GOP’s attack on democracy
Tuesday began with a breathless story from a Murdoch tabloid, The New York Post alleging that, according to Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden’s son, Hunter dropped off three laptops for repair in 2019 and never picked them up again. Then, the story alleges,the FBI subpoenaed the hard drives, but ...
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Past Present Podcast, Episode 248
Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:
At age 87, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died earlier this month. Natalia referred to historian Jeffrey Melnick’s Twitter thread on the appropriative nature of the term “Notorious RBG” and to the book by the same title. Niki recommended ...
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Masterpiece Cakeshop, Presidential Pardons, and Separated Families
Past Present Episode 134
In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, Donald Trump’s use of the presidential pardon, and the American tradition of separating families.
Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:
The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the baker who ...
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