Jonathan Mitchell, a Prominent Anti-Abortion Lawyer, on Restraining the Power of the Supreme Court

Jonathan Mitchell, a Prominent Anti-Abortion Lawyer, on Restraining the Power of the Supreme Court

In recent years, the attorney Jonathan Mitchell has become a crucial figure in the anti-abortion movement. Advising a Texas state senator, Mitchell developed Texas’s S.B. 8 legislation, which allows for civil lawsuits against individuals who have helped facilitate an abortion—acts like driving a patient to an appointment. The law was crafted to evade review by the Supreme Court in the period before Dobbs ended the precedent of Roe v. Wade. Opponents of the law have called it state-sponsored vigilantism. Mitchell is now representing a man seeking millions of dollars in civil damages from friends of his ex-wife—who helped her access abortion medication—in a wrongful death lawsuit. And yet, despite his conservative politics, Mitchell has something in common with some legal thinkers on the left: a critique of the Supreme Court and its extraordinary power. As an opponent of the belief in judicial supremacy, Mitchell asks, “Why should it be the Supreme Court and not Congress?” to have the last word on what the Constitution means. “Why should it be the Supreme Court and not a state legislature that might have a different view?” Mitchell rarely gives interviews, but he agreed to speak with The New Yorker’s contributor, Jeannie Suk Gersen, a professor at Harvard Law School who clerked for the former Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

New Yorker Radio Hour listeners, we want to hear from you. We have a few questions about the show and how you listen to it. The survey takes about twenty minutes, and your feedback will help us make our podcast better. Take the survey here.

Episoder(1022)

How Tucker Carlson Became the Prophet of MAGA

How Tucker Carlson Became the Prophet of MAGA

Tucker Carlson has long been a standard-bearer for far-right views, such as the racist conspiracy theory known as the “great replacement.” He recently did a chatty interview with the white supremacist...

23 Jan 27min

How Betting Took Over Sports

How Betting Took Over Sports

Danny Funt has been reporting on the gambling boom for The New Yorker, which has generated startling recent headlines, including the arrest of a former N.B.A. coach and the indictment of two M.L.B. pi...

20 Jan 17min

With the Podcast “I’ve Had It,” Jennifer Welch Goes “Dark Woke” on Politics

With the Podcast “I’ve Had It,” Jennifer Welch Goes “Dark Woke” on Politics

Before becoming a podcaster, Jennifer Welch had a successful career as an interior designer and co-starred in a reality show on Bravo. But, since 2022, she and Angie Sullivan, her co-host on the podca...

16 Jan 32min

Does Every Marriage Need a Prenup?

Does Every Marriage Need a Prenup?

Prenups have gone from a tool of the ultra-wealthy, carrying a whiff of scandal, to a more widespread request for aspirational young couples with few assets. Wilson spoke with celebrity divorce attorn...

13 Jan 18min

Trump’s New Brand of Imperialism

Trump’s New Brand of Imperialism

U.S. intervention in other countries, whether overt or covert, is by no means new, and Daniel Immerwahr notes that the open embrace of expansionism by the President and associates such as Stephen Mill...

9 Jan 31min

Demi Moore Talks with Jia Tolentino

Demi Moore Talks with Jia Tolentino

Since she reëmerged as a star in the 2024 film “The Substance,” Demi Moore has been very busy. She has a major role in the current season of Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman” series, and she has two highly ...

6 Jan 22min

Salsa Star Rubén Blades on Acting, Politics, and the Power of Music

Salsa Star Rubén Blades on Acting, Politics, and the Power of Music

For roughly half a century, the singer Rubén Blades has been spreading the gospel of salsa music to every corner of the globe. “You could say that Blades did for salsa what Bob Marley did for reggae,”...

2 Jan 28min

Elaine Pagels on “The Historical Mystery of Jesus”

Elaine Pagels on “The Historical Mystery of Jesus”

Thirty years ago, David Remnick published “The Devil Problem,” a Profile of the religion scholar Elaine Pagels—a scholar of early Christianity who had also, improbably, become a best-selling author wi...

30 Des 202526min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
stopp-verden
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
det-store-bildet
nokon-ma-ga
rss-gukild-johaug
fotballpodden-2
dine-penger-pengeradet
aftenbla-bla
rss-ness
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
hanna-de-heldige
rss-dannet-uten-piano
e24-podden
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk