“We’re looking at a destruction of the Constitution of the United States” if Donald Trump gets to pick Supreme Court justices, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told MSNBC recently. A couple more appointments to the top court, she said to Chris Matthews, and you can kiss abortion rights, integrated schools, and more goodbye.
That completely deranged point of view is reaching a fever pitch today, the day that the president will announce his replacement for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. On today’s Reason Podcast, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and I talk about Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist, just how much the Supreme Court matters in the long run, and whether The Donald is a net positive or negative for libertarian-minded Americans. On the one hand, he is deregulating certain aspects of the economy and the administrative state, and he’s been less aggressive than George W. Bush or Barack Obama when it comes to sending troops overseas.On the other hand, he just started a global trade war, acts despicably toward immigrants, and has yet to actually cut spending.
Matt Welch also gives a first-hand report on what he saw at the Libertarian Party convention in New Orleans, and we talk about the legacy of Steve Ditko, the co-creator Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and other more-popular-than-ever superheroes. An ardent Objectivist and Ayn Rand fan, Ditko contributed two comics to Reason in 1969, each of which took aim at “neutralists” who were willing to “compromise” with evil and thus become evil themselves (that’s a rough paraphrase). Read them here and here.
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Audio production by Ian Keyser.
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Relevant links to today’s conversation:
“Another Justice Like Gorsuch, Please,” by Jacob Sullum
“8 Reasons Why Obergefell Won’t Be Overturned,” by Jonathan H. Adler
“SCOTUS Shortlister Brett Kavanaugh on Obamacare and Judicial Restraint,” by Damon Root
“SCOTUS Shortlister Raymond Kethledge on Free Speech, Gun Rights, Originalism, and Chevron Deference,” by Damon Root
“SCOTUS Shortlister Amy Coney Barrett on Overturning Precedent and Judicial Deference to Lawmakers,” by Damon Root
“Not So Supreme (Q&A with Mark Tushnet),” by Nick Gillespie
“Trump’s Trade War Officially Begins,” by Eric Boehm
“Trump’s Trade War Targets Second-Most-American Pie Filling,” by Christian Britschgi
“Libertarian Party Rebuffs Mises Uprising,” by Matt Welch
“Controversialist Arvin Vohra Announces 2020 Libertarian Presidential Run,” by Matt Welch
“Ant-Man and the Wasp,“ by Kurt Loder
“Steve Ditko, RIP,” by Brian Doherty
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