Panic! In The Federal Judiciary [TEASER]
You know things are really bad when federal judges–historically an extremely reticent group–are sounding the alarm about the chaos and confusion the Supreme Court is reaping these days. Never fear, Amy Coney Barrett is here to remind all of us that everything is fine, because the shadow docket is not a big deal, originalism is fun and interesting, and she's a real human mother.
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5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. This episode was produced by Dustin DeSoto. Leon Neyfakh provides editorial support. Our website was designed by Peter Murphy. Our artwork is by Teddy Blanks at Chips NY, and our theme song is by Spatial Relations. Transcriptions of each episode are available at fivefourpod.com
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Transcript
Speaker 2 Hey everyone, this is Leon from Prologue Projects. On this subscriber-only episode of 5-4,
Speaker 2 Peter, Rhiannon, and Michael are talking about growing concern among some federal judges over how the Supreme Court is operating under the Trump administration.
Speaker 2 The New York Times recently sent a survey to hundreds of federal judges across the country and got responses from nearly 50 of them saying that the Supreme Court's use of the emergency docket docket has been inappropriate.
Speaker 2 Lower court judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans told the Times the court's reliance on unexplained emergency rulings has created confusion and damaged public trust in the judiciary.
Speaker 2 It was an extraordinary show of disapproval that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Defending the Supreme Court on the public stage has been its second newest member, Amy Coney Barrett.
Speaker 2
whose new book has served as an occasion for a press tour that the hosts have found deeply impressive and persuasive. Just kidding.
This is 5-4, a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks.
Speaker 1 Welcome to 5-4, where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have destroyed our nation, like Donald Trump destroying the east wing of the White House.
Speaker 1
I'm Peter. I'm here with Rhiannon.
Hey. And Michael.
Yeah, I just saw the photos like just an hour ago and was like, fuck. like, it's really like...
Speaker 3 What's this guy doing?
Speaker 1 They took a fucking wrecking ball to the White House.
Speaker 1 How on the nose? No, sorry, we're going to pretend this isn't sick.
Speaker 1 We're going to pretend this isn't awesome. So originally the reporting was like they're doing like a just a tiny bit of demolition and then they're going to build out the ballroom.
Speaker 1 And then it was like, actually, it's the entire East Wing.
Speaker 1 By the weekend, the entire East Wing of the White House will be gone.
Speaker 3 Yeah, you know it's every boy's dream.
Speaker 1 To destroy the White House?
Speaker 3
100%. Right? Every boy's dream.
You roll in the wrecking ball, you roll in the crane, the bulldozer. You watch it bring down a building.
Speaker 1
Yeah. To destroy a building and then make it more flamboyant.
Yes. Is every young man's dream is great?
Speaker 3 Install some chandeliers.
Speaker 1 I just want a place to dance. That's what every guy says when they buy a house.
Speaker 1 Oh, man.
Speaker 1 Look, it's ridiculous and we are laughing about it, but it is, it is worth noting that this motherfucker has no intention of ever leaving this place, right? Like
Speaker 1 you don't demolish a wing of 150-year-old building to put in a ballroom if you're out of there in two years, right? Like, yeah.
Speaker 3 Yeah, there's some theater to it, right? Like,
Speaker 3
I run this place. This is where I live.
I'm going to live here long term.
Speaker 1
Yeah. So this is my house.
I'm renovating. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
So I'm putting my little touches on it. Shit, he did not do last term, right? He didn't do the tacky gold shit
Speaker 1
in the Oval. Have you guys seen that? No.
Have you seen pictures of the Oval Office? Oh, my God. You guys.
Speaker 3 He's installing like Trump-branded hardware.
Speaker 1
You gotta look at the Oval Office. No, it's just like all this molding that's been like.
either plated or just painted gold. There's like really sort of like...
Speaker 3 God. He's such a plated molding guy.
Speaker 1
It's so tacky. Okay.
Hold on. I'm looking at it right now.
24-carat accents.
Speaker 1 Yeah. No, it looks good.
Speaker 3 Solid aesthetics on this side.
Speaker 1 There are Italians in my neighborhood who would think this is tacky.
Speaker 1 It looks like he saw a Versace shirt and was like, that.
Speaker 1
I want a real life life version of that on my mantle, on the fireplace mantle. It's so bad.
Hey, folks, if you want to hear the rest of this episode, you're going to have to subscribe.
Speaker 1
This episode is one of our premium Patreon-only episodes. Membership starts at just five bucks a month.
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Speaker 1 That's five fourpod all spelled out.
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