Student Loan Debt and the Supreme Court
Past Present Podcast, Episode 365
We discuss the SCOTUS deliberation over the cancellation of student loan debt....
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Affirmative Action
Past Present Podcast, Episode 350
In this episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the past and uncertain future of affirmative action in higher education....
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The United States Is Not A Christian Nation—And Should Not Be Remade Into One
Recent SCOTUS rulings not only threaten religious minorities, they contradict the intentions of the Founders
Recent SCOTUS rulings not only threaten religious minorities, they contradict the intentions of the Founders...
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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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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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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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Federalist Society Fêtes Kavanaugh
While protestors call for impeachment
Copyright: Jo Freeman
Sponsored by the Center for Popular Democracy and Demand Justice, they explained why Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh should be removed from the Supreme Court for lying under oath at his confirmation hearing over a year ago.
Copyright: Jo Freeman
In the background, the voice of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford could ...
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Constitutional Courts and the Project of Democratic Defense
Courts should make the defense of democracy a priority
In the wake of the Kavanaugh nomination, a debate has erupted on the broadly progressive left about the role of constitutional courts in advancing valuable social ends. Samuel Moyn’s broadside against the “juristocracy,” and Andrew Seal’s response here reflect two potential positions. That debate has been so far focused on the relationship ...
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Progressives and the Court
A Response to Samuel Moyn’s “Resisting the Juristocracy”
There’s an old saying among lawyers: When you have the facts on your side, pound on the facts. When you have the law on your side, pound on the law. When you have neither, pound on the table.
At first glance, that seems to be Samuel Moyn’s counsel in a widely shared Boston ...
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Kavanaugh Protests Continue to the End
‘Sexual Predators on the Court, Hell no, We Don’t Support’
Protests against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to become a Justice of the Supreme Court resumed on Thursday, October 4, and continued through Saturday, October 6 when he was officially sworn in. While the protesters were still mostly women, more younger women came than in September, dropping the average age of the protesters ...
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Courts, Kavanaugh, and Constitutional Hardball
On November 22, 1895 Eugene V. Debs stepped outside of the Woodstock Jail in Chicago, where he had been imprisoned for six months. Debs, the President of the American Railway Union, had been one of the leaders of the Pullman Strike of 1894, considered by many to be the first ...
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The Legitimacy of the Supreme Court?
The system is working and that is the problem
We Americans are “constitutional fetishists” in the apt phrase of the lesser-known mid-20th century critical theorist of law and economy, Franz Neumann. We tend to think that a particular order of state institutions -- for example, our current incarnation of the separation-of-powers -- embodies the essence of democracy instead of looking ...
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