Dissed

Hungry for more? Join Anastasia Boden for season one of the new In Dissent podcast . In Dissent traces the founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence from the revolutionary moment of their birth to the courtrooms where they’ve been tested, twisted, and sometimes abandoned. Each episode pairs vivid historical storytelling—a man riding through the night to break a deadlocked vote, a printer...

Lady Justice is often depicted wearing a blindfold, signifying that judges are neutral arbiters of the law. Unfortunately, thanks for a judicial doctrine known as Chevron deference, the Supreme Court has required judges to peek from behind that metaphorical blindfold and put a thumb on the scale for the most powerful litigant in our nation: the federal government. In a case called Brand X, the Cou...

The government’s deprivation of life, liberty, or property is legitimate  only if preceded by certain procedural protections—better known as due process of law. This includes reasonable notice of the rules so citizens can know and follow them. But a 1947 Supreme Court decision gave the burgeoning administrative state the ability to create new rules with retroactive application, through a...

The federal government is brimming with hundreds of agencies and millions of employees, many of whom enjoy some independence from political accountability. But the President is supposed to be responsible for everything that happens in his branch of the government. With the creation of more and more “independent” agencies, the lines of accountability have become blurred. In a series of cases, howev...

A central feature of our Constitution’s separation of powers is that Congress is charged with making the law, and it can’t give away this power to the other branches of government. Known as the nondelegation doctrine, this core protection of our liberty has only been halfheartedly enforced by the courts for much of the past century. In 1935, however, nondelegation enjoyed “one good year” when the...

In 1978, amid a sordid history of Native American children being taken from their families and placed in custody of non-Indians, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA. Though passed with good intentions, critics say ICWA actually offers Indian children  less  protection than non-Indian children solely because of their ancestry. This term, the Supreme Court will decide&nbs...

In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans. It’s the first time the court applied strict scrutiny to racial discrimination by government. Over the protests of three justices, the Court held in Korematsu v. United States that the Roosevelt Administration met that exacting standard. One of the dissenters lamented, “Racial discrimination … has no justifiable part w...

In this bonus episode, the ladies tell the sad tale of John Rutledge, the first Supreme Court nominee rejected by the Senate. It’s a cautionary tale that demonstrates why justices should hold their fire for their dissents rather than political speeches. Follow us on Twitter @ehslattery @anastasia_esq @pacificlegal #DissedPod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dairy and apples and whiskey and wine. Many of our favorite things have turned in up cases involving the Commerce Clause at the Supreme Court. This term, the Court will consider whether a California law regulating the sale of pork violates that Clause. Some think the Court will strike California's pork ban down. Others wonder, based on recent dissents, whether the justices will use this oppor...

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is well known for his heterodox legal views and willingness to stick to his principles. What’s less known is his incredible story. Born dirt poor in the segregated south, Thomas’s work ethic and intellect led him to Yale Law School, then to becoming Chairman of EEOC, then to nomination as federal appellate judge, and finally to confirmation as a Supreme Court...

What are “navigable waters of the United States”? It’s a question agency bureaucrats and property owners have battled over since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. A Supreme Court ruling in 2006 that could have cleared it up is … about as clear as mud. This term, in Sackett v. EPA, the Court may finally provide the answer. Thanks to our guests Jonathan Adler and Damien Schiff. Follow us o...

In this bonus episode, the ladies are joined by two fellow SCOTUS watchers to preview the Supreme Court's new term.  Follow us on Twitter: @EHSlattery @Anastasia_Esq @PacificLegal Send comments, questions, or ideas for future episodes to Dissed@pacificlegal.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1996, someone murdered four people in a furniture store in a small town in Mississippi. A year later, Curtis Flowers was convicted of the crime, but the verdict was overturned based on prosecutorial misconduct. The state tried Mr. Flowers again, resulting in another appeal, and yet another reversal. In all, the state would try Flowers  six  times, with the last conviction making its w...

In this bonus episode, the ladies discuss the most highly anticipated case of the Supreme Court’s term: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Center, overruling Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion. The ladies dig into other rulings involving the Second Amendment, a praying football coach, and school choice in Maine. Plus, stay tuned for a double dose of “Name that dissent!” Please subscribe, leave us a revie...

This is the story of Tone Dougie, an aspiring rapper who posted rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife and blowing up an FBI agent. Tone Dougie says he didn't intend to threaten anyone and was simply inspired by Eminem. But the federal government saw things differently and prosecuted him for making “true threats.” His case eventually reached the Supreme Court, where only one...

In this bonus episode, the ladies discuss an exciting cert grant and the Supreme Court’s recent opinions and dissents related to the Double Jeopardy Clause, bingo, and Indian tribes. Plus, stay tuned for “Name that dissent!” Please subscribe, leave us a review, and share with your friends! Follow us on Twitter: @EHSlattery @Anastasia_Esq @PacificLegal Send comments, questions, or ideas for future...

In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was being “so wantonly and so freakishly imposed” that it was “cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual.” But just four years later, the Court reversed course---ruling that with new procedures in place, states could continue executions without running afoul of the Eighth Amendment. Justice Thurgoo...

In this bonus episode, four guests joined us to make the case for why the Supreme Court should overrule  Chevron v. NRDC ,  Kelo v. City of New London ,  Wickard v. Filburn , or the  Slaughterhouse Cases . Hear the arguments and then YOU decide. Cast your vote in the Twitter poll posted by @CaseyMattox_. Thanks to our guests Daniel Dew, Ilya Somin, Josh Blackman, and Clark...

This is the story of Bond. Carole Anne Bond. She discovered her husband and her best friend were having an affair. And her friend was pregnant. What Bond did next led to a federal conviction for using chemical weapons and two trips to the Supreme Court. While all the justices agreed Bond’s conviction could not stand, the majority declined to reach the underlying constitutional issue—leaving it to...

This episode concerns one of the most vociferous dissents of all times: Justice Antonin Scalia's scathing opinion in United States v. Virginia , which was aimed at none other than his close friend and writer of the majority opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. RBG's reaction to Scalia's fiery critique? Gratitude. As she put it, Justice Scalia's dissent was instrumental in sharpening her own opini...

In 1952, the Supreme Court smacked down President Truman’s attempt to seize the nation’s steel mills. The dissenters—who happened to be Truman’s poker buddies—would have given the president flexibility to deal with this purported emergency, but the majority issued a swift rebuke. And one justice’s concurrence has continued to shape the way we think about executive power and emergencies to this day...

Antitrust is making headlines, with figures as diverse as Josh Hawley and Elizabeth Warren seeking to use it as a shiny new tool to rein in big tech. But some of the policies they’re pushing were tried before in the 1960s, and they ended up penalizing perfectly competitive conduct just out of animosity for “big business.” A Supreme Court dissent that paved the way for a consumer-first antitrust st...

In the landmark ruling District of Columbia v. Heller, Justices Antonin Scalia and John Paul Stevens wrote dueling originalist opinions examining the right to keep and bear arms. They both looked to the Second Amendment’s text, history, and tradition to reach … opposite conclusions about its original meaning. Thanks to our guests Paul Clement, David Lat, Clark Neily, and Adam Winkler. Follow us on...

The idea of “court-packing,”⸺that is, adding seats to the court for political purposes⸺has recently gained steam for the first time in nearly 100 years. The last time we heard about court-packing, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s plan to add more justices was supposedly staved off by the infamous “switch in time that saved nine.” As the story goes, Justice Roberts (no, not THAT Roberts) strat...

In 1883, a Supreme Court ruling signaled the end of federal efforts to protect newly freed slaves and ushered in the era of Jim Crow laws. One justice, later called the Great Dissenter, stood alone in dissent. Join us as we explore the once-forgotten dissent of John Marshall Harlan in the Civil Rights Cases and how it saw a rebirth nearly a century later. Thanks to our guests Peter Canellos, Chris...