OT2018 #7: “Now Who’s the Legal Realist?”

If you were hoping that the Supreme Court news cycle would slow down, you’re going to be disappointed this week — there’s a lot to talk about! Will and Dan catch you up on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s health scare, Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s investiture, a couple of interesting requests for additional briefing in recently argued cases, some intriguing new cert grants, lots of activity on the “shadow docket,” and more. And — oh yeah — there’s also the end of the November argument session to recap and the term’s first merits opinion to talk about. We also take a detour into the constitutionality of Acting Assistant General Matthew Whitaker’s appointment, and answer several questions from the Hotline. Despite all that content, we somehow managed to keep this one well under epic-length. The signal-to-noise ratio is very high in this episode!