Linda Greenhouse: The Supreme Court at the Brink

Over the past four years, the United States Supreme Court has seen drastic changes to its members, from the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg to the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett. At the end of the 2019–20 term, followers of the Supreme Court noted that a new "center" of the court was holding under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts. By the end of the 2020–21 term, much about the nation's highest court had changed, reflecting a conservative supermajority enabled by jurors nominated by President Donald Trump. Many observers of the court expect these shifts to continue and deepen, making this past year a critical pivot point in the history of the Supreme Court, and American politics as a whole.

In her new book, Linda Greenhouse, a Pulitizer Prize winner and one of the best-known chroniclers of the Supreme Court of her generation, explores the end of the 2020–21 term for the court, the changes that have occurred in the past year, and what the future holds for the court in these increasingly partisan times. Greenhouse covers everything from the death of Justice Ginsburg to the rise of Justice Comey Barrett, from the pandemic to the disputed 2020 election, putting the happenings around the Supreme Court at the center of the country's partisan political disputes.

Please join us for an important conversation on the U.S. Supreme Court and its increasing role in American society with a writer who knows the court and its politics as well as anyone in America.

SPEAKERS

Linda Greenhouse

Contributing Op-Ed Writer, The New York Times; Clinical Lecturer in Law, Senior Research Scholar in Law, Yale Law School; Author, Justice on the Brink

In Conversation with Lara Bazelon

Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinical Programs, University of San Francisco

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on November 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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