Unequal Scales: Power, Politics, and the Supreme Court

The Washington Roundtable’s Jane Mayer interviews Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of Michigan, a co-host of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast, and the author of “Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes.” Litman analyzes the wave of victories that the Court has given President Trump’s second Administration—on both its regular docket and its so-called shadow docket—and how outside influence seeps into the Court’s decision-making. Plus, how to parse the dissenting Justices’ language to understand what is happening behind closed doors at the Court.

This week’s reading:

• “Trump Has a Bad Case of Biden on the Brain,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “Can Trump Deport People to Any Country That Will Take Them?,” by Isaac Chotiner
• “Sick Children Will Be Among the Victims of Trump’s Big Bill,” by Rachel Pearson
• “Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Three Conspiracy-Theory Theories,” by Jon Allsop 

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com with “The Political Scene” in the subject line.