5-4

The Supreme Court has overturned one of our nation's only proactive strategies for addressing its foundational sin. But what's worse, the most annoying guy on the cross country team just lost his last best excuse for why he didn't get into Harvard. Enjoy SUNY Binghamton, Bronckton! If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-on...

The lapsed memberships of your youth can be held against you in immigration proceedings. It's only a matter of time until all Neopets users are deported. Is this a weird time to mention our Premium subscription? If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/s...

The 2022 Supreme Court term is officially over. Don't you feel relieved? lol us neither. The full version of this Premium episode is available exclusively to our subscribers. To join, visit https://www.fivefourpod.com/support. 5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. Rachel Ward is our producer. Leon Neyfakh and Andrew Parsons provide editorial support. Our researcher is Jonathan DeBruin, and ou...

This episode discusses child abuse. We urge you to take care while listening. If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/support. 5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. Rachel Ward is our producer. Leon Neyfakh and Andrew Parsons provide editorial support. Our...

Absolutely fuck the major questions doctrine, fuck this Court, and fuck student loan debt. Come get pissed with us. If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode. You could be getting even more mad. To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/support. 5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. Rachel Ward is ou...

In this case from this past Friday, the Court has added a giant loophole to our anti-discrimination laws. How big is the loophole? About the size of a 161’6″ super yacht or a Bombardier Global 5000 private jet. If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/suppor...

What has a head and a mouth, but cannot wear a hat? A river! What has its head up its ass, and cannot interpret the Clean Water Act correctly? The Supreme Court! If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/support. 5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. Rachel...

This episode was available early to Premium members. If you'd like that kind of perk, consider joining at fivefourpod.com/support. Journalist Erin Reed monitors assaults to trans rights across the country. We talked to her about the evolution of anti-trans legislation, common conservative strategies, and what cases might end up before the Supreme Court. You can find Erin's incredible "...

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun Unless the highest court in all the land decides that you are done Then your union job is gone. If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, discounts on merch, access to our Slack community, and mo...

I am Bill Douglas, I speak for the trees.  I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. And I'm asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs - who does have standing? Unless … 👉👈 If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, discounts on merch, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/support....

The death penalty has a long, ugly, racially-motivated history in the United States. Let's dig into the state's monopoly on violence and see what terrible things it reveals about us as a nation, shall we? The full version of this premium episode is available exclusively to our subscribers. To join, visit https://www.fivefourpod.com/support. 5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. Rachel War...

War, huh, yeah. What is it good for? Curtailing the First Amendment! If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, discounts on merch, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/support. 5 to 4 is presented by Prologue Projects. Rachel Ward is our producer. Leon Neyfakh and Andrew Parsons provide editoria...

As the Court has moved right, it's been using the "shadow docket" to execute on more of its agenda. Previously reserved for emergencies, like stays of executions, the process of hearing cases outside of the Court's ordinary calendar is now frequently used to issue unsigned and unexplained decisions that overturn the status quo. We'll dig into it with University of Texas School...

Jackson, Mississippi out here with the supervillian-level attitude towards public goods - "if I have to share, then no one can have it." If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, discounts on merch, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/support. 5 to 4 is presented by Prologue Projects. R...

Just to refresh your memory - bribery is when you write "bribe in exchange for your vote" on the memo line of a check, OR when you sign a contract saying you are doing bribes and then drop a pillowcase full of cash off at someone's office while multiple DOJ officials are watching.   A billionaire ferrying a public official around on his private jet and super yacht, while he sits on the...

The tension is palpable with the count tied at 3-2 … the defendant steps up to the plate and … OH! Swing and a miss! That's the third strike for our defendant which means the Court is going home with the win and the defendant is going to jail forever!  Tax payers will also move down in the standings; they'll be footing the bill for senseless incarceration for 25 years to life. The 8th Amen...

Well if intimidating minority voters, issuing memos in support of school segregation, and moving into a neighborhood that bars Jews from owning homes there makes you a segregationist … …then William Rehnquist was a segregationist.  A man who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Until 2005. The same year Gorillaz released "Feel Good Inc." The year Wedding Crashers came out. It'...

This episode contains discussions about the right to die, end of life matters, and suicide, which may be uncomfortable for some listeners. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please seek help immediately. Resources and support for those in need can be found at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988lifeline.org, or by dialing 988. Please take care while liste...

We're back with another episode of Rhiannon's movement lawyering series! In this episode, Rhiannon talks with Palestine Legal's senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath and staff attorney Dylan Saba about their mission to protect Palestinian activists from harassment, and the power of intersectional liberation movements. The full version of this premium episode is currently available excl...

Breaking news! It's not just the Supreme Court that sucks - it's ALSO the executive and legislative branches!  This week we're sharing Michael's appearance on Bloc Party, talking about how oral arguments went down in the SCOTUS cases that could make or break Biden’s student loan cancellation initiative.  Eleni Schirmer from the Debt Collective also joins in, to cringe at Roberts’ l...

What does a military contractor have in common with Justice Antonin Scalia? They both manufacture things! The contractor manufactures helicopters with faulty escape hatches. Scalia manufactures, out of whole cloth, new laws about who can be held liable for deaths. Neither of them care if you live or die, as long as the designs are to spec! 5 to 4 is presented by Prologue Projects. Rachel Ward is o...

Recorded live at Stateside at the Paramount! Join us as we skewer Texas judges (not literally!), teach a robot to argue before the Supreme Court, and answer the question that has haunted this podcast from the very beginning: Who IS Leon Neyfakh? The full version of this premium episode is available exclusively to our subscribers. To join, visit https://www.fivefourpod.com/support. 5 to 4 is presen...

This week, 5-4 invites you to check out an episode of Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, hosted by friend-of-the-pod Josie Duffy Rice. In 1968, police arrested five Black girls dressed in oversized military fatigues in Montgomery. The girls were runaways, escaping from a state-run reform school called the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount...

It's not easy being a kid. Especially when the state thinks you don't have any constitutional rights. Thank goodness for this week's case, In re Gault, where the Court decides you can have a little rights, as a treat. If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To get exclusive Premium-only episodes, discounts on merch, access to our Slack community, a...

You know and hate qualified immunity, which allows cops to get away with murder. Now meet prosecutorial immunity, the judge-made doctrine that allows prosecutors to get away with the death penalty. Prosecutorial immunity shields prosecutors from the consequences of their actions - whether it's putting witnesses they know are lying on the stand, withholding exculpatory evidence, or retaliating...