Court of Public Opinion: Dahlia Lithwick on the press and the Supreme Court

Unprecedential

Supreme Court reporters are tasked with the heavy responsibility of telling the Court’s story fairly and accurately. But this job is not as straightforward as it might seem. The Court decides complicated legal issues, and analysts must resist the temptation to treat the Court's work as simply political, or to suggest that the 5-4 rulings are the most important and representative ones.

Dahlia Lithwick has been writing on the Court and the law for two decades, primarily at Slate. In today's episode, she and Adam discuss the press's work of covering the Court in politically and cultural fractious times. They consider Chief Justice Roberts's sometimes surprising moves to minimize the Court's political footprint, and the ways in which justices’ authentic camaraderie creates an institutional culture of spirited but largely amiable disputes that distinguish the Court from the government's political branches. Often these themes are more complicated—and more interesting—than momentary partisan disputes.

*NOTE: This conversation was recorded shortly before the passing of Justice Ginsburg and the nomination of Judge Barrett to succeed her.