Season 2, Episode 12 (Show 64): Confirmation Correction – Special Guest Vikram D. Amar

March 23, 2022

As the confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson begin, we are joined by a leading expert on the Senate in general and Confirmations in particular – Vik Amar, Dean of the Illinois College of Law, and yes, that Amar family.  The “brothers-in-law” give you a preview at a level of constitutional sophistication available nowhere else.

Ketanji Brown Jackson prepares to testify at Senate confirmation hearings, and the air is filled with confirmation bromides. It is said that a judicial nominee cannot speak about past cases.  Or about cases that might come up.  Or about legal theories.  Is this true?  Some say that all that matters is that the nominee be qualified and admirable.  Can the Senate inquire further?  How far can a nominee go in committing themselves on anything?  Fortunately, we have a leading Senate expert, law school Dean, public intellectual – and, an “Amar” on “Amarica’s Constitution.”  No, not Akhil, but Vik Amar, Dean of the Illinois College of Law and the first American of Indian descent to clerk for a Supreme Court Justice, to be a major Law School Dean.  Listen to the “brothers-in-law” as they prepare you for the hearings.  And – even more important – hear about their forthcoming law review article that may do nothing less than save the country.  No kidding.