Lawless : how the Supreme Court runs on conservative grievance, fringe theories, and bad vibes / Leah Litman.

By:

Litman, Leah [author.]

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: New York : One Signal Publishers, Atria, 2025Edition: First One Signal Publishers/Atria Books hardcover editionDescription: 311 pages ; 24 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9781668054628
1668054620

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Contents:

Introduction -- The Ken-surrection of the Courts -- You can't sit with us! -- Winter is coming (for voting rights) -- There's always money in America -- The American psychos of the Supreme Court -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index.

Summary: A Crooked Media podcast host shines a light on what she sees as the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices and shows Americans how to fight back.Summary: "Something is deeply rotten at the Supreme Court. How did we get here and what can we do about it? Crooked Media podcast host Leah Litman shines a light on the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative Supreme Court justices and shows us how to fight back. With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what's gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it's running on vibes. By "vibes," Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials whose views are no longer shared by a majority of the country. Dahlia Lithwick's Lady Justice meets Rebecca Traister's Good and Mad as Litman employs pop culture references and the latest decisions to deliver a funny, zeitgeisty, pulls-no-punches cri de coeur undergirded by impeccable scholarship. She gives us the tools we need to understand the law, the dynamics of courts, and the stakes of this current moment -- even as she makes us chuckle on every page and emerge empowered to fight for a better future." -- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: New Adult Nonfiction

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	New Books	320.60973 LIT	Available		36748002615039

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Something is deeply rotten at the Supreme Court. How did we get here and what can we do about it? Crooked Media podcast host Leah Litman shines a light on the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative Supreme Court justices and shows us how to fight back.

With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what's gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless , she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it's running on vibes. By "vibes," Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials whose views are no longer shared by a majority of the country.

Dahlia Lithwick's Lady Justice meets Rebecca Traister's Good and Mad as Litman employs pop culture references and the latest decisions to deliver a funny, zeitgeisty, pulls-no-punches cri de coeur undergirded by impeccable scholarship. She gives us the tools we need to understand the law, the dynamics of courts, and the stakes of this current moment--even as she makes us chuckle on every page and emerge empowered to fight for a better future.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-296) and index.

A Crooked Media podcast host shines a light on what she sees as the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices and shows Americans how to fight back.

"Something is deeply rotten at the Supreme Court. How did we get here and what can we do about it? Crooked Media podcast host Leah Litman shines a light on the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative Supreme Court justices and shows us how to fight back. With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what's gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it's running on vibes. By "vibes," Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials whose views are no longer shared by a majority of the country. Dahlia Lithwick's Lady Justice meets Rebecca Traister's Good and Mad as Litman employs pop culture references and the latest decisions to deliver a funny, zeitgeisty, pulls-no-punches cri de coeur undergirded by impeccable scholarship. She gives us the tools we need to understand the law, the dynamics of courts, and the stakes of this current moment -- even as she makes us chuckle on every page and emerge empowered to fight for a better future." -- Provided by publisher.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Introduction (1)
1 The Ken-Surrection of the Courts (13)
2 You Can't Sit with Us! (53)
3 Winter Is Coming (for Voting Rights) (93)
4 There's Always Money in America (143)
5 The American Psychos of the Supreme Court (183)
Conclusion (223)
Acknowledgments (235)
Notes (239)
Index (297)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Litman, a lawyer and co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, debuts with a scathing takedown of the Roberts court. She argues that the court's conservative justices operate under the belief that "Republicans are being treated unfairly by the increasingly diverse society that no longer shares their views" and craft their decisions accordingly, with an eye toward protecting their "oppressed minority" (in the words of Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas) rather than attempting to adhere to legal precedent. Litman traces this "no laws, just vibes" attitude through recent controversies and decisions, ranging from Justice Samuel Alito's flying of an upside down flag in support of the Stop the Steal movement ahead of the January 6 insurrection to the court's obsessive "hunt for discrimination against religious and social conservatives" supposedly hidden within Covid lockdown measures. Along the way, Litman ingeniously mines the past half century of conservative politics for comedy gold as she builds her case that the movement's bugbears are now driving the court, from Richard Nixon's taped Oval Office rant about how ancient Greek civilization was destroyed by gay people to Trump adviser Stephen Miller's ominous suggestion that "what is happening with Taylor Swift is not organic." It's a clear-eyed and alarming view of a court captured by far-right conspiracy theories. (May)