Law Professor Steven Vladeck joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about The United States Supreme Court. Why do Supreme Court Justices serve for life? How does a case get to the Supreme Court? Did Ruth Bader Ginsberg make a mistake by not retiring? Why did Lyndon B. Johnson nominate Thurgood Marshall? Why do we have nine justices? Professor Vladeck answers all these questions and much more.
00:00 – Supreme Court Support!
00:14 – Why do Supreme Court justices get life
01:01 – How do Supreme Court justices get appointed?
01:09 – Are confirmation hearings effective?
01:59 – Obama Drama
03:31 – Has Supreme Court ever been apolitical?
04:10 – How does a case get to the Supreme Court?
05:41 – How many cases does the Supreme Court catch a year?
06:29 – Manifest Dissent-ny
06:54 – What’s the point of a dissenting opinion?
08:08 – Who’s going to hang up the laces next?
08:51 – RBG = Boston Braves Babe Ruth?
10:03 – On a scale of 1 to 10, How ugly was the Kavanaugh confirmation?
11:13 – How did Plessy vs Ferguson change society?
12:14 – When did liberals control SCOTUS?
13:04 – Was Supreme Court liberal during Roe v Wade?
13:45 – How did Citizens United affect elections?
14:29 – Birthright citizenship?
15:28 – Has a Justice ever resigned?
16:12 – What are the duties of the Chief Justice?
16:54 – Opposite Day appointment?
17:37 – Why did LBJ nominate Thurgood Marshall?
18:21 – The Shadow Knows
19:31 – What was the first 2nd Amendment SC case?
20:05 – What would you say…you do here?
20:59 – Can the Supreme Court make law?
21:49 – Originalism or Constitutionalism?
23:04 – How do states’ rights fit in?
23:44 – How does Supreme Court overturn previous ruling?
24:28 – Why rely on precedents?
25:12 – Number 9. Number 9.
26:35 – How do you impeach a justice?
27:33 – What if you just ignore the court?
28:50 – Difference between state and federal SC?
29:23 – Who watches the Watchmen?
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Eric Brouse
Editor: Richard Trammell
Expert: Stephen Vladeck
Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas; Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Casting Producer: Nick Sawyer
Camera Operator: Christopher Eustache
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
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Rose colored glasses…
All I want/need to know/ am curious about in re: SCoTUS is how is “Chief Justice” decided upon/determined?! Seniority on the court? Can’t be it. Election by the sitting justices?? Everyone would vote for themselves then it would be a popularity contest.
I suppose I could google it but where is the fun in that.
The chief Justice like all the other justices is nominated by the senate and confirmed by the president
What about the REAL questions? Like, who was Squee? And who put that pubic hair on Clarence Thomas’ can of Coke?
Seriously though, I’m disappointed that you covered only half of the scandal that Garland was denied “because it was too close to the election,” but then Coney Barrett was sworn in with even less time remaining.
Thats not a scandal. If democrats held the senate they would have done the same thing
@hunghung79 Yeah, sure.
Historically in presidential election years when you have a scotus nomination when the president and senate are opposite parties that nominee has only been confirmed once. But when they’ve been the same party the nominee has been confirmed every time.
Is Chevron dead? I’ll sleep easy. That thing was cancer.
Garland a moderate? Needed a good laugh lololololol
You obviously didn’t pay attention to him when he served on the DC circuit
“Incredibly moderate”… dude, Merrick Garland was not a moderate. And saying that the court and appointments weren’t as partisan as twenty years ago is insane. Bork and Thomas were absolutely railroaded to try to keep them off the court and it was 100% purely partisan mudslinging.
When Garland served on the DC circuit he was considered a moderate and that’s why Obama picked him for the Supreme Court in 2016. Garland was confirmed as AG 70-30 that means taht most republican senators didn’t have an issue with him. Also garland was moderate bevause if he wasn’t he would’ve gone after Trump day 1 instead of waiting for 2 years.
I wonder what this guy thinks of current scotus movements.
Side note, would cruel and unusual punishment be better if it clearly restricted the gov to specific punishments it’s allowed to do? Like the state can only incarcerate, demand community service, execute, etc. thus it’s spelled out and any other mvmt is thereby obviously illegal. Like you can’t tar and feather someone because that’s not within your scope of allowed punishments. Imagine if fines were illegal?!?
McConnel stole multiple seats.
7:55 that is John Marshall Harlan II (grandson of John Marshall Harlan) who also served on the Court. The original John Marshall Harlan though is who Professor Vladeck was referring to.
RBG did destroy her legacy by not retiring. It’s a dang shame.
I have an odd yet important request for wired; These videos are formatted with a white background and while I watch all these episodes. ALL.I do so, in bed and with a sleeping toddler and partner. However, The white background lights up the entire room and disrupts their sleep. I’m guessing I’m not the only late night deep-dive-fun-facts-watcher on the internet. Can’t you choose a dark color like the question box or something?😂 HELP ME. I want to watch these during the only time I have to myself and I can’t with good conscience lest I wake up everyone. Please darken the videos! HELP this tired momma 😅
THIS GUY saying Merrick Garland was a moderate shows this guy is a leftist loon
Hi Broccoli! 😸
17:58 Robert Baratheon makes Jamie Lannister a Kingsguard to spite Tywin
It’s all about partisan politic now. SCOTUS no longer rules on the law and justice, it’s all about ideologies.
2:24 There is nothing “moderate” about Merrill Garland. You can make an argument over whether McConnell was right to prevent a confirmation vote or not, but to pretend that Garland is moderate is laughable.
You can tell based on his answers he has a progressive view on the courts and our laws.
6:53 and he doesn’t mention the greatest dissent of all time? The Great Dissent by Antonin Scalia 😂 Why only mention those of one persuasion?
Interesting video and explanations. The final one being of unique interest – how do we have oversight over the SCOTUS. If Congress gets to have oversight over SCOTUS, then who gets to have oversight over congress – there needs to be an independent, non-partisan oversight committee over all three branches.
Justices should be unbiased. The problem is that they are specifically chosen precisely for their partisan bias. None of them will admit it so they don’t fight that bias.