Jay and Mike open the show with a discussion of the first two Democratic presidential debates. Instead of looking at the debates in terms of ‘winners and losers’ they step back and talk about the nature of the debate format and the sort of qualities it rewards and punishes. Mike lets loose on his general disgust with these multi-person debates, and while Jay isn’t quite as impassioned he agrees that they’re far more spectacle than substance.
Next, they look at a trio of major end-of-term Supreme Court decisions, starting with gerrymandering. Jay feels that the majority got it right and that gerrymandering, while a potential danger to democracy, isn’t something that the Court can fix. Mike disagrees but feels it’s a tough question and understands why some may not be able to accept the social science view of how much partisan gerrymandering is too much.
After that they turn to the Court’s decision on the Trump administration’s plan to add a citizenship question to the Census. Mike thinks that Chief Justice Roberts and the Court’s four liberals got it exactly right - while the administration can add a citizenship question, they have to provide a reasonable explanation for why they’re doing so, as opposed to the after-the-fact rationale the administration provided. Jay is somewhat disappointed with the outcome, but joins Mike in his respect for Chief Justice Roberts.
The final Supreme Court ruling they examine received less coverage than the others, but is on a topic - administrative discretion - that’s near and dear to both Mike and Jay’s hearts. Jay feels that the Court’s ruling to keep in place a narrowed doctrine of deference to administrative agencies’ interpretations of their own rules is reasonable, though he argues that the narrowing of that deference is part of a larger project to restrain the administrative state - something he’s very much in favor of. Mike agrees with the outcome and argues that the four dissenters seem to want to replace agency discretion with judicial discretion, which he views as unacceptable judicial activism.
They close the show with a look at the humanitarian crisis on the Mexican border. Mike & Jay agree that the system is currently overwhelmed, and that Congress did the right thing in putting aside at least some partisan differences and approving some desperately needed emergency funding.
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Abraham Lincoln and Our Ancient Faith
Redistricting, Texas Porn Law, Trump’s Time Interview
Campus Protestors, Antisemitism Awareness, Marijuana Rescheduling
Can Capitalism Save the Planet?
SCOTUS on Homelessness, Trump Immunity, FTC Bans Noncompetes
Ukraine Aid, TikTok Ban, Campus Protests
Bryan Caplan Will Not Be Stampeded!
The Sixth Amendment
Israel, Johnson's Foreign Aid, Uri Berliner, the 1st Amendment
The Lie Detectives: In Search of a Playbook for Winning Elections in the Disinformation Age
Guns, Table Saws, America Divided (or maybe not)
AZ Abortion Law, Student Loan Debt, Trump on Trial
The Uses and Abuses of the Modern University
The Fifth Amendment
Israel and Iran, Biden’s Foreign Policy, Florida’s Supreme Court on Abortion Ban, Trump Media & Technology
NBC and Ronna McDaniel, Truth Social IPO. RFK Jr. and 3rd Parties
Joe Lieberman, Abortion Pill Access, Eastman Disbarment
Parliamentary America: The Least Radical Means of Radically Repairing Our Broken Democracy
Texas and Immigration, Presidential Fundraising, Alternative to the Bar Exam
Shutdown Avoided, Apple Lawsuit, OH Senate Primary and Trumpism
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