Why is the Supreme Court making some of its most impactful decisions behind closed doors?
In this episode, Robin Frazer Clark and Lester Tate welcome Professor Stephen Vladeck, author of the bestselling book The Shadow Docket, to discuss the rise of stealth rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. Learn why unsigned and unexplained decisions—affecting everything from immigration to abortion—are becoming more common and why every American should be paying attention.
👨⚖️ Guest: Prof. Stephen Vladeck, Georgetown L...
Why is the Supreme Court making some of its most impactful decisions behind closed doors?
In this episode, Robin Frazer Clark and Lester Tate welcome Professor Stephen Vladeck, author of the bestselling book The Shadow Docket, to discuss the rise of stealth rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. Learn why unsigned and unexplained decisions—affecting everything from immigration to abortion—are becoming more common and why every American should be paying attention.
👨⚖️ Guest: Prof. Stephen Vladeck, Georgetown Law
📚 Book: The Shadow Docket – Buy on Amazon
📺 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kfK3Fl1_Qgw
🌐 Read more: https://seeyouincourtpodcast.org
🎓 More about our guest: Georgetown Faculty Page
This episode is brought to you by the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation. Learn more at https://fairplay.org
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Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction & Baseball Banter
05:00 - Meet Professor Stephen Vladeck
07:30 - What Is the Shadow Docket?
10:00 - Real-World Supreme Court Examples
13:00 - Is the Court Still a Court?
17:30 - Chief Justice Roberts & Leadership
20:30 - Political Appointments and Judge Perception
26:30 - Law Firms, Retaliation & Executive Orders
32:30 - The Role of the Legal Profession
38:00 - Deportations and Due Process Concerns
42:00 - What If the Court Is Ignored?
44:30 - Supreme Court Immunity Ruling
50:00 - District Court Judges as Rule of Law Heroes
53:30 - The Supreme Court Bar's Silence
56:30 - What Lawyers Can Do Now
1:02:00 - Defining Justice & Baseball Wrap-Up
1:04:00 - Legal News & Podcast Closing
#ShadowDocket #SCOTUS #StephenVladeck #SeeYouInCourt #GeorgiaLaw #CivilJustice #RuleOfLaw #RobinFrazerClark #LesterTate
Guest Bio
Stephen I. Vladeck is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, “The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic,” which won the 2023 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award for Non-Fiction and was a finalist for the 2024 ABA Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts. He is a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center and is a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts; the Supreme Court; national security law; and military justice.
Vladeck is also a highly regarded appellate advocate, having argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and over a dozen before various lower federal civilian and military courts. Amazingly, his very first oral argument ever was before the United States Supreme Court and Justice Kennedy asked him “Was Marbury v. Madison correctly decided
Vladeck is CNN’s Supreme Court analyst and editor and author of “One First,” a popular weekly newsletter about the Supreme Court. Together with Bobby Chesney, Vladeck co-hosts the popular and award-winning “National Security Law Podcast.”
Vladeck graduated from Yale Law School in 2004—where he was executive editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Marsha S. Berzon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Rosemary Barkett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He earned a B.A. summa cum laude with Highest Distinction in History and Mathematics from Amherst College in 2001. A native New Yorker and hopeless Mets fan, Vladeck lives in the District of Columbia with his wife, Karen (Founder and Managing Partner of Risepoint Search Partners); their daughters, Madeleine and Sydney; and their eleven-year-old pug, Roxanna.
Links:
Stephen I. Vladeck | Georgetown Law
Lester Tate - http://www.akintate.com/
Robin Frazer Clark - https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
See You In Court (seeyouincourtpodcast.org)
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
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