Ep. 163: The Media-Manufactured Mystique of the US Court System

"John Roberts Passes Test: Politicization of Judicial Appointment is Disheartening," read a 2005 headline from Salisbury, Maryland’s Daily Times. "Ignore the attacks on Neil Gorsuch. He’s an intellectual giant — and a good man," Robert P. George pleaded in The Washington Post in 2017. Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination "is beyond politics," South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn told CBS's Face the Nation in 2022.

We hear the same refrains over and over about the US federal court system in general and the U.S. Supreme Court in particular. They’re independent judiciaries. They abide by the Constitution, the rule of law, the law of the land. They follow legal precedent. They’re bastions of integrity and impartiality. It’s reassuring to think of our courts as measured, fair, upholding democracy, and acting in the public’s interest.

But history shows that these articles of faith are undeserved. The courts are profoundly political, and they wield power that affects every corner of people’s lives, from healthcare to policing, education to climate. So why is it that The Courts are awarded such mystique? What purpose does it serve to paint them as untouchable and unquestionable, existing outside of politics? And how does this framing stack the deck against those seeking long overdue and radical change to our systems?

On this episode, we examine how media have helped manufacture the sense of ennobled secrecy of the Supreme Court and broader so-called "justice system," looking at the ways in which the courts’ power runs counter to the will and needs of the public, the creation of campaigns to feign judicial impartiality and apoliticism, and the American exceptionalism that undergirds popular framings of one of the world’s most reactionary institutions.

Our guest is writer Josie Duffy Rice.

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Guest

Josie Duffy Rice (@jduffyrice) is a journalist and writer. A longtime analyst of the criminal legal system, she is also the creator and co-host of the Webby-nominated podcast Justice in America.

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Show Notes

The Only Way to Fix the Federal Courts’ Fundamental Flaw

Eric Reinhart | May 24, 2022 | Slate

The Supreme Court’s History of Protecting the Powerful

Isaac Chotiner | May 17, 2022 | The New Yorker

The Conservative Justices Are Doing Exactly What They Promised

Jay Willis | May 3, 2022 | Balls and Strikes

The Supreme Court Has Never Been Apolitical

 Joshua Zeitz | April 3, 2022 | Politico

The Long Crusade of Clarence and Ginni Thomas

Danny Hakim and Jo Becker | February 22, 2022 | The New York Times Magazine

The Supreme Court Is More Unpopular Than It’s Been in Decades

Luke Savage | February 15, 2022 | Jacobin

Let’s Be Real: The Supreme Court Is Political and Always Has Been.

Jack Shafer | January 28, 2022 | Politico

What President Biden should look for when replacing Breyer

Editorial Board | January 26, 2022 | The Washington Post

The Lie About The Supreme Court Everyone Pretends To Believe

Adam Serwer | September 28, 2021 | The Atlantic

How Conservatives Fell in Love With Judicial Activism

Adam Cohen | September 21, 2021 | Balls and Strikes

Legal Journalism Is Broken

Jay Willis | September 15, 2021 | Balls and Strikes

The Supreme Court used to be openly political. It traded partisanship for power.

Rachel Shelden | September 25, 2020 | The Washington Post

30 Washington Post Articles on Gorsuch’s Nomination—Not a Single One Opposed

Adam Johnson | February 2, 2017 | FAIR

I Spent 7 Months Studying Supreme Court Reform. We Need to Pack the Court Now 

Kermit Roosevelt III | December 10, 2021 | TIME

Venezuela: Chávez Allies Pack Supreme Court

December 13, 2004 | Human Rights Watch

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Referenced

Justice Sotomayor gives pep talk to progressives while praising Clarence Thomas 

Devin Dwyer | June 16, 2022 | ABC News

A Supreme Court in Disarray After an Extraordinary Breach

Adam Liptak | May 3, 2022 | The New York Times

The leaked draft Roe opinion is a disaster for the Supreme Court

Ruth Marcus | May 3, 2022 | The Washington Post

Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade leak: The end of integrity and ethics?

Jonathan Turley | May 3, 2022 | The Hill

Supreme Court draft leak is indefensible, whatever side of Roe you're on

Ryan C. Williams | May 8, 2022 | NBC News Think

I’ve known Amy Coney Barrett for 15 years. Liberals have nothing to fear.

O. Carter Snead | September 26, 2020 | The Washington Post

The Supreme Court Was Never Meant to Be Political

Joseph J. Ellis | September 14, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal

Ignore the attacks on Neil Gorsuch. He’s an intellectual giant — and a good man.

Robert P. George | February 1, 2017 | The Washington Post

Why Liberals Should Back Neil Gorsuch

Neal K. Katyal | January 31, 2017 | The New York Times

Let the Courts Decide 

Laurence H. Tribe | November 12, 2000 | The New York Times

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

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