Sam and Emma host Wilfred Codrington, Assistant Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, to discuss President Biden’s recent nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. They begin by situating her nomination within the expectations of a SCOTUS Justice’s pedigree, as Judge Jackson’s dual Harvard degrees, three federal clerkships (including for Justice Breyer), and experiences on multiple court circuits provide a resume that fits perfectly with the other Justices, while her work as a public defender sets her apart from the typical corporate pipeline and demonstrates her commitment to constitutional questions. After walking through her work that lead up to the nomination, Sam, Emma, and Professor Codrington posit how her role could impact the court both now, as she is slightly to the left of Breyer, and down the road, as even with a conservative majority her dissents can offer important toe-holds for fights decades from now. Next, Sam and the Professor get to dive into the administrative state, as they unpack the current EPA SCOTUS case and its role in furthering the conservative agenda of completely dismantling the capacity for non-congressional agencies to make American society work, before they wrap up the interview by taking on Sam’s “pre-pack the court” tactic, and the idea of bending the rules of the Court as we unpack its undemocratic nature. Sam and Emma also touch on absentee ballot rejections in Texas primaries, the CDC easing masking guidelines, and the effect of Biden pilfering the entire country of Afghanistan, before they touch on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and how the West loves to react to Christian– I mean white– I mean European– refugees in a way that absolutely demeans and dehumanizes the victims of Western imperialism outside of Europe.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma discuss the importance of emphasizing Russia’s actions as grounded in imperialism, and dive into Putin’s relationship with his oligarchs, and the obvious lack of leverage anyone in his regime has on him. They also look at Zelensky’s effective messaging in the midst of bombings and invasions, and the domestic pushback to Putin’s actions, before John from Minnesota calls in to discuss crypto and reallocation of wealth, and Bro Flamingo jumps off that with a conversation on the “Financialization of Daily Life.” Kowalski takes on the relationships between imperialism and agriculture, Condoleezza Rice takes on acknowledging her past war crimes, before they wrap up with the devolution of Jordan Peterson and Jacob from Alabama situates the current mineworkers strike as the longest one in his state’s history, plus, your calls and IMs!