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Hubwonk Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro about his new book, Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court. The episode equips listeners with historical context to better understand the makeup of the Court, the nomination process, and the impact of a new justice on the Court.
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And, if I don’t much flatter myself, it doesn’t stop me from being a clearer thinker than your average Senate Democrat.
The COVID pandemic is a dream come true for trial lawyers. Although many Americans have already suffered severe economic harm, the plaintiffs’ lawyers see near-guaranteed rewards arriving soon from high numbers of deaths, changing protocols developed in a climate of medical uncertainty and bought politicians committed to preserving their right to file baseless suits.
I can tell you a few things about her, though. For one thing, she did not have a wild reputation, so I think that if she’s nominated, the Senate hearings will have to find something else to complain about. She was an English major and served on the Honor Council, a student body that enforced our honor code against lying and cheating (a great feature of academics at Rhodes that allowed us take-home tests in many classes). We were both in Mortar Board, an honor society. She wasn’t a political activist and was never a member of the College Republicans (I was, and we had a much larger membership than the College Democrats).
With Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and a newly vacant Supreme Court seat, the political madness of 2020 got even madder. But this moment is precisely why so many Republicans voted for Donald Trump despite their misgivings. A conservative majority on SCOTUS has been a signature goal of the party base going back to Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Now, 40 years later, the opportunity is finally here.
I first met Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the winter of 1978 when we were both fellows at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. Our interactions were always cordial. From the first time we talked, it was clear that she was a passionate advocate first, and a detached academic second. She was always immersed in filing certiorari petitions at the Supreme Court in connection with the hugely successful Women’s Rights Project, which she ran at