Panic! In The Federal Judiciary [TEASER]

You know things are really bad when federal judges–historically an extremely reticent group–are sounding the alarm about the chaos and confusion the Supreme Court is reaping these days. Never fear, Amy Coney Barrett is here to remind all of us that everything is fine, because the shadow docket is not a big deal, originalism is fun and interesting, and she's a real human mother. If you're not a 5-4 Premium member, you're not hearing every episode! To hear this and other Premium-only episodes, access to our Slack community, and more, join at fivefourpod.com/support http://fivefourpod.com/support. 5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. This episode was produced by Dustin DeSoto. Leon Neyfakh provides editorial support. Our website was designed by Peter Murphy. Our artwork is by Teddy Blanks at Chips NY, and our theme song is by Spatial Relations. Transcriptions of each episode are available at fivefourpod.com http://fivefourpod.com Follow the show at @fivefourpod on most platforms. On BlueSky, find Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social, Michael @fleerultra.bsky.social, and Rhiannon @aywarhiannon.bsky.social. Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile and use my code mintmobile.com/fivefour for a great deal: https://www.mintmobile.com * Check out Quince and use my code FIVEFOUR for a great deal: https://www.quince.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:04Speaker 00

  Hey, everyone. This is Leon from Prologue Projects. On this subscriber-only episode of Five to Four, Peter, Rhiannon, and Michael are talking about growing concern among some federal judges over how the Supreme Court is operating under the Trump administration. The New York Times recently sent a survey to hundreds of federal judges across the country and got responses from nearly 50 of them, saying that the Supreme Court's use of the emergency docket has been inappropriate. Lower court judges, appointed by both Democrats and Republicans, told the Times that "the court's reliance on unexplained emergency rulings has created confusion and damaged public trust in the judiciary." It was an extraordinary show of disapproval that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

• 0:49Speaker 00

  Defending the Supreme Court on the public stage has been its second newest member, Amy Coney Barrett, whose new book has served as an occasion for a press tour that the hosts have found deeply impressive and persuasive. Just kidding. This is Five to Four, a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks.

• 1:12Peter Shamshiri?

  Welcome to Five to Four, where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have destroyed our nation, like Donald Trump destroying the East Wing of the White House. I'm Peter. I'm here with Rhiannon.

• 1:23Speaker 02

  Hey.

• 1:24Peter Shamshiri?

  And Michael.

• 1:25Michael Liroff?

  Yeah, I just saw the photos like just an hour ago and was like, fuck. Like, it's really like-

• 1:31Speaker 02

  What's this guy doing?

• 1:33Michael Liroff?

  They took a fucking wrecking ball to the White House. How on the nose.

• 1:39Peter Shamshiri?

  No, sorry. We're gonna pretend this isn't sick. We're gonna pretend this isn't awesome. So originally, the reporting was like, they're doing like just a tiny bit of demolition, and then they're gonna build out the ballroom. And then it was like, actually, it's the entire East Wing. By the weekend, the entire East Wing of the White House will be gone.

• 1:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, you know it's every boy's dream.

• 2:00Peter Shamshiri?

  To destroy the White House? 100%.

• 2:03Speaker 02

  Right? Every boy's dream. You roll in the wrecking ball? You roll in the crane, the bulldozer? You watch it bring down a building?

• 2:12Peter Shamshiri?

  Yeah. To destroy a building and then make it more flamboyant-

• 2:15Michael Liroff?

  Yes.

• 2:16Peter Shamshiri?

  Is every young man's dream.

• 2:17Speaker 02

  That's right. Install some chandeliers.

• 2:20Peter Shamshiri?

  I just want a place to dance. That's what every guy says when they buy a house.

• 2:27Michael Liroff?

  Oh, man. Look, it's ridiculous and we are laughing about it, but it is, it is worth noting that this motherfucker has no intention of ever leaving this place, right? Like, you don't demolish a wing of 150 year old building to put in a ballroom if you're out of there in two years, right?

• 2:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, there's some theater to it, right? Like, I run this place. This is where I live. I'm gonna live here long term. Yeah.

• 2:56Michael Liroff?

  Yeah, this is my house.

• 2:58Speaker 02

  I'm renovating.

• 2:59Michael Liroff?

  Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I'm putting my little touches on it. Shit he did not do last year, right? He didn't do the tacky gold shit that in the, in the Oval. Have you guys seen that?

• 3:12Peter Shamshiri?

  No.

• 3:12Michael Liroff?

  Have you seen pictures of the Oval Office? Oh, my God.

• 3:15Speaker 02

  He's installing like Trump branded hardware on the bus and shit.

• 3:19Michael Liroff?

  The Oval Office is, no, it's just like, all this like molding that's been like, either plated or just painted gold. This is like really sort of like.

• 3:29Speaker 02

  God, he's such a plated molding guy, isn't he?

• 3:32Michael Liroff?

  It's so tacky.

• 3:34Peter Shamshiri?

  Okay, hold on, I'm looking at it right now. 24 karat accents. Yeah, no, it looks good.

• 3:45Speaker 02

  Solid aesthetics on this guy.

• 3:48Peter Shamshiri?

  There are, there are Italians in my neighborhood who would think this is tacky.

• 3:53Michael Liroff?

  It looks like, it looks like there, he saw Versace shirt and was like, that, I want, I want a real life version of that on, on my mantle, on the fireplace mantle. It's so bad.

• 4:06Peter Shamshiri?

  Hey, folks, if you want to hear the rest of this episode, you're going to have to subscribe. This episode is one of our premium Patreon only episodes. Membership starts at just five bucks a month. If you want to hear the rest, join us at patreon.com/54pod. That's 54pod all spelled out. Members get a bunch of stuff. Not only do you get access to the premium episodes, but access to subscriber only events, discounts on merch. And at the $10 a month level, you get bigger discounts on merch and membership in the incredibly rowdy 5 to 4 Slack. So again, that's patreon.com/54pod, 54pod all spelled out. Become a member today.