Legal Trouble
Added 2023-07-17 16:17:50 +0000 UTCAfter several trying months, Matt and Sam can finally discuss the lawsuit against KYE and Dissent magazine filed by Young Americans Foundation , the successor organization to Young Americans for Freedom. (We prevailed, for now anyway.)
Then we turn to three SCOTUS rulings from the end of the session: (1) Biden vs Nebraska (the student debt ruling); (2) Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (the affirmative action ruling); and (3) 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (the gay wedding website design ruling). Each of these rulings represents a victory for the conservative legal movement, an exercise of raw power by the court, and a blow to dignity and decent policy for millions of Americans. Taken together, they help us understand the workings of the conservative intellectual pipeline — at law schools, fellowships, and well-endowed non-profits — to change federal policy.
How do conservative institutions work together to (in the eyes of the law) turn victims into oppressors and vice versa? Listen to find out.
Sources:
Jennifer Schuessler, "Conservative Group Withdraws Lawsuit Against Left-Wing Podcast," New York Times, July 12, 2023
John A. Andrew III, The Other Side of the Sixties: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of Conservative Politics (1997)
Sarah Posner, "The Legal Muscle Leading the Fight to End the Separation of Church and State," Washington Spectator, April 1, 2007
Emma Brown and Jon Swaine, "Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme Court Nominee, Spoke at Program Founded to Inspire a 'Distinctly Christian Worldview in Every Area of Law,'" Washington Post, September 27, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant, "The Mysterious Case of the Fake Gay Marriage Website, the Real Straight Man, and the Supreme Court," New Republic, June 29, 2023
Thomas Sowell, "The Day Cornell Died," Weekly Standard, October 30, 1999
Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (2020)
Comments
Recently listened to this and decided to become a subscriber. Receiving an email with the salutation "Dearest Young American for Freedom" would have made the expenditure worthwhile, at least for one month, even if I didn't enjoy the content. (which of course I do) Cheers.
Eric Beckman
2024-06-14 00:23:44 +0000 UTCI implore you to consider having Mike Sacks on as a guest next time the current SCOTUS is a topic. Just a wealth of information/perspective and a realist about the courts as an exercise in raw political power.
nat gunter
2023-08-14 16:52:08 +0000 UTCThey published Richard Feynman if I’m not mistaken
Benjamin Pletcher
2023-07-25 05:19:16 +0000 UTCGreat ep. Just a quick note: Basic Books isn’t exclusively “conservative,” it publishes a range and includes some pretty anti-conservative titles. For example in the 90s (after Kristol took it over) it published the super-controversial Faces at the Bottom of the Well by Derrick Bell (“father of CRT”); recently it put out Steve Vladeck’s book exposing the Court’s “shadow docket.” It’s a decent press.
Michaela Brangan
2023-07-24 11:17:25 +0000 UTCI joined your patreon to show support. And will give more to help if your case gets reignited. Which I’m nearly sure it will.
Charlotte Murphy
2023-07-23 20:00:00 +0000 UTCRush Limbaugh
Ken Carmean
2023-07-23 01:50:16 +0000 UTCI interned for a GOP Congressman during the 90s. Ever since, I've been an involuntary member of the YAF mailing list. Their newsletters have followed me from address to address, sometimes even showing up in my parent's mailbox. All this is to say there must be an intense interest in mailing lists at YAF headquarters.
Rachel
2023-07-22 14:11:14 +0000 UTCLooking forward to a YAF episode! Didn’t know that the Sharon Statement was pre-Port Huron— super interesting youth activism nerd stuff
Camille Tinnin
2023-07-21 17:50:08 +0000 UTCI used to read Sowell’s column, he was curmudgeonly but definitely had a point of view unlike many of the squishy lib columnists. He reminded me of how Bill Cosby used to give speeches about “the kids today they listen to the rap music…” I distinctly remember him writing that whenever his wife heard him laughing in the kitchen it was because he had been on the phone with Clarence Thomas. They were in regular contact.
Mark K
2023-07-21 01:36:24 +0000 UTCElectorally? And for as opposed to against? I’d like to hear from M&S on this as well. Not an easy question.
Benjamin Pletcher
2023-07-20 17:34:10 +0000 UTCWow - thanks for keeping the good fight going. Question, maybe looking for some consolation as we enter into the 2024 race, but would love KYE’s thoughts on great books, maybe a “reading” list on what the left has to fight for. The national mood feels so toxic and confusing it can be hard to keep a center. Maybe beyond the scope of the pod (respect that), but would love more on what we have to fight for. Hope this question isn’t ignorant.
Brandon Sampson
2023-07-20 13:32:24 +0000 UTCJust upped my membership to make litigious rightwing losers cry lol. And to support my favorite podcast.
Taylor
2023-07-19 14:05:50 +0000 UTCI bring up the Chronicles only because, apropos the last KYE show’s comments on rising and unleashed homophobia, I was astonished by the mouth-frothing bile and hate that flows there, especially in the comments. Maybe a sign and symptom of bigotry feeling unchained and its oats?
Matt Gately
2023-07-19 02:58:56 +0000 UTCHere in Australia we tend to get recycled, enfeebled and particularly witless versions of right wing ideas and tactics from the US. The federal opposition has taken to Trump-style denial of basic facts of late, for example. In the spirit of KYE, I’ve been trawling the right wing ecosystem and landed on Chronicles magazine with such luminaries as Daniel McCarthy (who had a tepid try at being the counterpoint to a old lefty on a radio show by the Australian national broadcaster) and Taki Theodoracopolus, a near-illiterate Tory that scrawls for the Spectator too. Surely this organ cannot be a serious player?
Matt Gately
2023-07-19 02:54:53 +0000 UTCI work at a public library and I’ve had more than one young white man come in asking for Thomas Sowell’s books (the only type who do so so far, and I tend to never see them again after they acquire what they’ve requested). Some conservative YouTuber must be pushing him.
Axel Herrera
2023-07-19 01:04:27 +0000 UTCSorry to hear your legal troubles but grateful to hear that it’s been dropped! Another fantastic episode!
Christopher Hammer
2023-07-19 00:50:48 +0000 UTCWould love to hear y’all talk about Sowell. I work the desk at a branch of a mid-size urban public library in the Midwest; my branch is very small and in the historically African American area of our city and so we have a copy of Sowell’s Basic Economics, a big bland doorstop of a book that I can’t imagine anyone wanting to read. And yet to my immense surprise it circulates on a steady monthly basis, several of the people I see checking it out are young clean-cut white ROTC-looking guys who are not regulars and aren’t checking out anything else so it always makes me wonder who or what is sending them out to find that book.
Casey
2023-07-19 00:24:57 +0000 UTCA funhouse-KYE fact about the Hoover Institute: in the 80’s and 90’’s (not sure about more recently), Hoover was known in leftist circles for having the most extensive collection of leftist/radical periodicals anywhere. It was mostly to surveil what the enemy was doing out there (SYE?), and strolling in there to browse was not that easy, but it nonetheless was both impressive and comical.
Thomas Arnold
2023-07-18 23:23:45 +0000 UTCSorry you had to go through that! Conservatives are so petty and vindictive.
History Chick
2023-07-18 20:49:34 +0000 UTCThis episode's title sadly squanders an opportunity to revisit Walker, Texas Ranger.
Adam Lewis
2023-07-18 20:21:41 +0000 UTCLove the visual of DeSantis stepping on rakes. I'm picturing Sideshow Bob in the Cape Feare episode. On a other note, will you guys ever do a Biden apologist ep? Because I'm trying to find more reasons to vote for Biden than "he's not trump" (not that that's not sufficient per se)
Tim Combes
2023-07-18 19:32:23 +0000 UTCI appreciate your candidness about how difficult the past months have been. Court cases are brutal enough but especially if you're not rich. I'm sure it's been very trying.
Kent Miller
2023-07-18 16:26:56 +0000 UTChttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/opinion/race-academia-preferences.html
Benjamin Pletcher
2023-07-18 03:32:27 +0000 UTCWonderful episode as always. So grateful for this podcast, as someone who grew up in the religious right and is now a socialist. Would love to hear an episode with Corey Robin one day! Also, did y’all happen to read the oped on the affirmative action case by John McWhorter? There’s this whole left/liberal argument for why the decision will wind up helping the working class and poor, and therefore will help economically disadvantaged POC as opposed to the well off. Not sure I buy it, but I’d love for you two to weigh in. Posting the oped below:
Benjamin Pletcher
2023-07-18 03:32:06 +0000 UTCNo longer comfortable being in the YAF tier after this ep. Upped my membership. Maybe the West Coast Straussians are more principled /s
Jesse Peterson-Brandt
2023-07-18 02:24:04 +0000 UTCHey- for whatever it’s worth from some podcast rando, we’ve got your back, whether it’s against frivolous lawsuits or against ‘phobes.
Peter Berard
2023-07-18 01:58:55 +0000 UTCEp title should have been “enemy at the gates”
Dan
2023-07-17 21:24:11 +0000 UTCIt's also in the show notes! (Matt)
Know Your Enemy
2023-07-17 21:16:16 +0000 UTCopening segment really has me in Hulk Smash mode
Phil Christman
2023-07-17 20:59:42 +0000 UTCI'm so glad the lawsuit is no longer a thing. You guys do amazing work.
genrepunk
2023-07-17 20:47:09 +0000 UTCBetter Tom Sowell than Jack Bauer, I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
genrepunk
2023-07-17 20:43:26 +0000 UTCI’ve upped my membership tier in response to this most recent episode. How do I now access my subscription to Dissent?
Kathleen M Sedwick
2023-07-17 20:41:28 +0000 UTCA lot of thoughtful comments here about the lawsuit that don't quite capture my feelings: Fuck YAF Stay mad Nobody gets to mess with my particular favorite set of over educated leftist podcast guys.
John E Helmer
2023-07-17 20:36:17 +0000 UTCIs it fair to say that conservatives generally want to have alternative institutions as much as they can, so that they can essentially do what they want— or do things in an essentially antisocial or antidemocratic way? Therefore anytime they try to go the way of primary institutions, (like the law) it’s purely as a tool to reach that end.
Dan
2023-07-17 20:20:43 +0000 UTCDahlia Lithwick expands on your point about the inanity of Supreme Court journalism. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/supreme-court-coverage-problems-journalists.html
Rick Perlstein
2023-07-17 19:46:12 +0000 UTCThomas Sowell: The Man In the High Castle
Rick Perlstein
2023-07-17 19:26:59 +0000 UTC“There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” This lawsuit has given the classic KYE quip a whole new meaning. Now we know the in-groups do not even need to be bound by reality!
Derek Hart
2023-07-17 19:20:13 +0000 UTCGreat episode. So glad you folks are still in the fight.
Lee Cokorinos
2023-07-17 19:04:13 +0000 UTCcornell west’s essay on black neoconservatism is really helpful for understanding the nature of sowell’s thinking! as a young american for freedom (well, on the patreon…i’m a nearly-30 brit for equality), it sucks that you guys are getting sued for dumb reasons! you will triumph!
ANDREW WOODS
2023-07-17 19:00:47 +0000 UTCYou guys are the best. So happy that this lawsuit is (at least for now) not a worry. Hoping you have a wonderful week
Kirk Gibson
2023-07-17 18:45:55 +0000 UTCHang in there and thank you. I am a public school teacher in Arkansas. Rough times. Y’all are a lifeline of thought and ways of being sometimes. I rarely see or hear those things around here. With the new education omnibus bill, LEARNS, things may get even more aggressive against any form of protected class or person. So, I will likely appreciate the discourse y’all offer even more so in the next few years. In short, thank you. And, please, don’t stop the show just yet.
David Morledge
2023-07-17 18:26:16 +0000 UTCGiven Matt and Sam's penchant for inviting enemies onto the pod, I was a little bit concerned that this one would end in an ALAB-style breakdown of litigation strategy from both parties involved.
Will Hubbert
2023-07-17 18:03:39 +0000 UTCHopefully Latham will move for sanctions against whatever firm filed this for them. Despicable
Justin Forlenza
2023-07-17 17:48:59 +0000 UTCI’m an IP lawyer. Membership level: increased.
Matthew Warner-Blankenship
2023-07-17 17:42:20 +0000 UTCThe idea of a conservative wanting to join YAP stumbling into the KYE podcast Patreon and mistaking that for a way to join the actual organization is hilarious to me.
Corey Bushle
2023-07-17 17:27:09 +0000 UTChttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/arts/know-your-enemy-lawsuit.html?unlocked_article_code=ydtltC6kGPiM0RLzPim2xQpz9ur8x6qLlaOr1xCCqzIIFBaMK3WecfBOgjZCSZhJdNVKblYjaDGkV_FMLmxkY1vWNeeQ7xPfF9Mas07clR5Fgye8g3WFNNN-LfYCJp5o5nr8Y3XrT8jWnbLvPiLUG-Y3rlHMV5hZ_8iGi5F2hladnVz4FCMmuiCvB7eU0eIS9lO2F8wdb86bH4S-FbWCgL4IAqu8s-HwomL8wRvTNk9ZdM4WsUIsWnY_C3nreMZu-UtZq_p8XuxFm1ucV6t3fePrr41U74FBCs1lYTUN7ku6qV1B4zLINJz7rzvlwr4f-329VfyXZmSMsOEN&smid=url-share
sko buffs
2023-07-17 17:25:11 +0000 UTChaving been the victim of a meritless lawsuit, I absolutely know how you have felt. As a result of this experience, I am convinced that the ONLY reason the legal system exists is to protect property rights. Well . . . and to increase the wealth of the attorney class. My lawsuit was also withdrawn without prejudice, but I do believe the statute of limitations has now run. It only cost me the equivalent of about three years' income to get the case dismissed. Oh, and I learned to be absolutely sure that the insurance you bought that you THOUGHT would protect you in the event of being sued, is actually the kind of insurance that protects you from such occurrences.
John L Chapman
2023-07-17 17:21:18 +0000 UTCThe total lack of standing in the SCOTUS cases is mind-numbing. It not only brands the rulings as patently illegitimate, it reveals beyond a shadow of a doubt that the conservative Justices are plucking cases from the ether to impose their unpopular reactionary political agenda on an unwilling public.
Tom Toro
2023-07-17 17:15:49 +0000 UTCCan someone post the NYT article about the lawsuit. I no longer give them my money
Daniel Kamen
2023-07-17 16:59:49 +0000 UTCI was a national director of YAF in the 90s, and I'm trying to imagine the circumstances by which we'd file this lawsuit. YAF in the 90s doesn't resemble what we called "The Foundation" of the 90s (and YAF in 2023 resembles neither), but I have to imagine that this would have been primarily done as a joke - a gag to get a laugh, but we weren't above using it as means of fund-raising. I'm sure today it's more the latter than the former.
sko buffs
2023-07-17 16:45:01 +0000 UTCWe hate when our dear friends get embroiled
Colin Wick
2023-07-17 16:20:30 +0000 UTC
