A new episode of the Insider podcast is now out. This week, Preet Bharara and Joyce Vance are joined by NYU Law professor and co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast Melissa Murray to break down the Supreme Court’s most consequential decisions:
– Trump v. Barbara, where the Court struck down President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship;
– National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, where the Court struck down a federal law limiting the amount of money political parties can spend on a political candidate;
– Trump v. Cook, where the Court prevented Trump from firing Fed Chair Lisa Cook;
– Trump v. Slaughter, where the Court allowed Trump to fire the commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission;
– Watson v. RNC, where the Court ruled that mail-in ballots that arrive a few days after Election Day can be counted; and
– West Virginia v. B.P.J., where the Court upheld state bans on transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ school sports teams.
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A NOTE FROM THE PRODUCER
Jake Kaplan is the Supervising Producer of the Stay Tuned with Preet and Insider podcasts.
On a new episode of the Insider podcast, Preet Bharara and Joyce Vance are joined by constitutional law professor Melissa Murray to discuss the Supreme Court’s blockbuster end-of-term decisions, including its ruling preserving birthright citizenship and major cases involving Trump’s ability to fire high-level officials, financing for political campaigns, and guidelines for mail-in voting.
On the podcast, Murray explains that the birthright citizenship case is an important victory for the Constitution. However, she argues the Supreme Court helped turn a fringe legal theory into a serious constitutional debate by declining to settle the issue when it first had the chance last term: “Now, the Court has decided it and made clear that this is a crank theory, but not without allowing it to become somewhat legitimate over the course of this year, and that is a travesty.”
Murray also breaks down the Supreme Court’s rulings on Trump’s attempts to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and former FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. The Court sided with Cook but ruled against Slaughter, a pair of decisions that, at first glance, seem contradictory. But Murray has a theory: “These are both decisions that accrue to the benefit of corporate interests…They want a hobbled regulatory landscape, and they want the Fed to at least have the veneer of independence so that the markets remain stable.”
Finally, Murray turns to the Court’s decision upholding state bans on transgender girls and women competing in girls’ and women’s school sports. The decision’s real consequences may lie not in what the Court held, but in how the Trump administration may weaponize it to impose broader restrictions on transgender rights: “They will push the envelope on this to say this decision means that you can never have trans people in any kind of place—like sex segregation, writ large, and bathrooms and public employment, all of that is fine.”
Listen to the episode and comment below with your thoughts and questions. Thank you for being a member of our community here on Substack. If you’re not yet a paying subscriber, you can now listen to a free excerpt from the show. For access to the full analysis, upgrade your subscription.
Photo by Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
