The Supermajority: The Year The Supreme Court Divided America
- Author: Michael Waldman
- Narrator: Robertson Dean
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Duration: 11:15:02
Synopsis
An incisive analysis of how the Supreme Court’s new conservative supermajority is overturning decades of law and leading the country in a dangerous political direction.
In The Supermajority, Michael Waldman explores the tumultuous 2021–2022 Supreme Court term. He draws deeply on history to examine other times the Court veered from the popular will, provoking controversy and backlash. And he analyzes the most important new rulings and their implications for the law and for American society. Waldman asks: What can we do when the Supreme Court challenges the country?
Over three days in June 2022, the conservative supermajority overturned the constitutional right to abortion, possibly opening the door to reconsider other major privacy rights, as Justice Clarence Thomas urged. The Court sharply limited the authority of the EPA, reducing the prospects for combatting climate change. It radically loosened curbs on guns amid an epidemic of mass shootings. It fully embraced legal theories such as “originalism” that will affect thousands of cases throughout the country.
These major decisions—and the next wave to come—will have enormous ramifications for every American.
It was the most turbulent term in memory—with the leak of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the first Black woman justice sworn in, and the justices turning on each other in public, Waldman previews the 2022–2023 term and how the brewing fights over the Supreme Court and its role that already have begun to reshape politics.
The Supermajority is a revelatory examination of the Supreme Court at a time when its dysfunction—and the demand for reform—are at the center of public debate.
Chapters
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001 TheSupermajority Open
Duration: 15s -
002 TheSupermajority Introduction
Duration: 11min -
003 TheSupermajority PartOne CourtFights ChapterOne AmericanAristocracy
Duration: 24min -
004 TheSupermajority ChapterTwo NoRights
Duration: 27min -
005 TheSupermajority ChapterThree NineOldMen
Duration: 54min -
006 TheSupermajority ChapterFour TheWarrenCourt
Duration: 31min -
007 TheSupermajority ChapterFive TheLongBacklash
Duration: 44min -
008 TheSupermajority ChapterSix TheTrumpCourt
Duration: 50min -
009 TheSupermajority PartTwo SixWhoRuled ChapterSeven MarchingBackward
Duration: 34min -
010 TheSupermajority ChapterEight TheShadowDocket
Duration: 30min -
011 TheSupermajority ChapterNine Arguments
Duration: 31min -
012 TheSupermajority ChapterTen KBJMeetsQ
Duration: 31min -
013 TheSupermajority ChapterEleven Insurrectionists
Duration: 31min -
014 TheSupermajority ChapterTwelve TheLeak
Duration: 36min -
015 TheSupermajority PartThree ThreeDaysInJune ChapterThirteen Bruen
Duration: 01h04min -
016 TheSupermajority ChapterFourteen Dobbs
Duration: 45min -
017 TheSupermajority ChapterFifteen WestVirginiaVEPA
Duration: 59min -
018 TheSupermajority PartFour TheFightAhead ChapterSixteen RaceAndDemocracy
Duration: 34min -
019 TheSupermajority Conclusion WeThePeople
Duration: 31min -
020 TheSupermajority Credits
Duration: 26s