Season 2, Episode 16 (Show 68): Is Jackson Commissioned?
April 19, 2022
There’s a confirmation conundrum flowing from Justice Breyer’s problematic resignation letter. It hasn’t reached the mainstream press, but we are on top of it, with an in-depth look at the possible problems and pitfalls. We also wrap up the Senatorial sound bites.
Justice Breyer’s unusually worded “resignation letter” raises a host of constitutional questions that perhaps he did not intend. Who is asking them? We are. A cascade of confusion – from resignation to confirmation to reconsideration to commission to oath. The Biden Administration says we should ask William Rehnquist about it, because he told us the answer. Except he didn’t. Listen to it all, and while we’re at it, we also wind up our clips from the hearings with contrasting Senators (understatement) – and Dean Vik Amar drops in to help with it all. A jam-packed episode this week!
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 15 (Show 67): Rights and “Justice”
April 12, 2022
As Judge Jackson is confirmed, Akhil, our guest Vik Amar, and Andy discuss how the questioning could have resulted in a deep discussion of rights. It didn’t, so we give it to you instead.
Judge Jackson – or is it Justice Jackson (we discuss) – is confirmed, but we aren’t done discussing it yet. Distilling the non-nonsensical questioning down, it really was an attempt to probe into the question of rights; who decides, and how, what rights Americans have? We listen to the colloquy and use it as a jumping-off point for a wide-ranging discussion of fundamental, enumerated, and unenumerated rights – among other things.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 14 (Show 66): Graham Crock-er
April 5, 2022
The Senators and the Judge took the stage in the Jackson Confirmation Hearings; we listen to them and dissect their statements and performances with a “constitutional eye.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings have concluded, as has the committee vote. We put the Senators, and the Judge, back on the stage. We listen to them and comment. What do we know now about the Judge, and about the Senators, in terms of their view of their respective constitutional roles, and their constitutional views? Their own words are replayed, and then Akhil and Senate expert Vik Amar critique them – and educate us. Oh, and Lindsay Graham had something to say.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 13 (Show 65): The Hearings According To Durbin – Special Guest Vikram D. Amar
April 2, 2022
Dean Vik Amar is back with more on the SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings – this time, only hours after a lengthy session he spent with Senator Dick Durbin, the Chairman of those very hearings! The insights thus gained are surprising, provocative – and only available here.
We’re a little late this week, but it’s worth it, as we are able to report on a lengthy conversation that our guest, Dean Vik Amar of the University of Illinois School of Law, had with the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, just hours before our podcast taping. He offered Vik and his students a truly inside look at the Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings just conducted, as well as his perspective on confirmations in general, and some truly surprising perspectives and possible ideas for reform – and now, our listeners have this early access to them.
Show Notes:
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.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 11 (Show 63): Lawyer of the Century
March 16, 2022
Our “role models” series concludes with a truly remarkable individual: Telford Taylor. From Nuremberg to Vietnam; from McCarthy to Calley, he put the law into the service of America during a long and amazing career. Along the way, he inspired Professor Amar’s scholarship and admiration.
Walter Dellinger and Charles Black are hard acts to follow, but our concluding role model is up to the task. Telford Taylor was legislator, war hero, Nuremberg prosecutor, international law pioneer, law firm founder, tenured professor and scholar extraordinaire, public intellectual, and always a principled, skilled lawyer. Professor Amar admired his work from afar, and that admiration led to a personal meeting, to Akhil’s first major law review article in the Harvard Law Review, and ultimately, to the opening scene of his latest book. Meanwhile, in the news, we also take time to look at the latest developments, statements, and misstatements filling the air on the notorious Texas abortion law, SB8.