Lobotomizing the DOJ

Sarah and David answer listener emails, covering everything from judicial federalism, to the Supreme Court’s upcoming tech term, to potential SCOTUS reforms.

The Agenda:—Constitutionality of the special counsel

• The Nixon precedent
• Independent judgment of lower courts
• Predictability and the rule of law
• The Texas pornography case: children’s rights or adult’s rights?
• Injunctions as extraordinary relief
• Biden’s proposed SCOTUS reforms
• The grossness of ethics violations

Show Notes:—Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto

• United States v. Nixon
• Advisory Opinions episode on NetChoice v. Moody
• Texas’ H.B. 1181
• Ginsberg v. New York
• The “Angry Cheerleader” case
• Judge Bibas’ Third Circuit opinion on assault weapons
• Federalist Papers No. 83
• The Dispatch’s Project 2025 Fact-Check
• Presumed Innocent