The Supreme Court

The Eighth Amendment. What is cruel and unusual punishment? Who gets to define and decide the amendment's boundaries? And how did the Constitution's authors imagine it might change? In this hour, the shifting definition of cruel and unusual punishment. This episode was originally ...  Show more

Call it standing ovation inflation: these days, it feels like it's mandatory to stand and clap for live performances. Has our please clap era gone too far? That's what one Throughline listener wanted to know. So we traced the winding road from Shakespeare’s epilogues to Broadway ...  Show more

Abortion, environmental protections and gun ownership rights are among the controversial topics the US Supreme Court has ruled on over recent weeks. The highest court in the land has the final say on interpreting laws and deciding what’s constitutional and what isn’t. Now - with ...  Show more

<span>With the recent passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there's been a lot of debate about how much power the Supreme Court should</span><span> re</span><span>ally</span><span> have.</span>

<span>We think of the Supreme Court justices as all-powerful beings, issuing momen ...

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a pair of cases that threaten to topple four decades of precedent about federal agencies' authority to interpret statutes. Leah, Melissa, and Kate recap the arguments and outline the Koch-funded basis for the Supreme Court's la ...  Show more

Original Air Date: December 8, 2022 The Supreme Court is back in session and taking on a number of hot button issues this session. To break down the latest episode, David sits down with Dahlia Lithwick of Slate. How likely is the Supreme Court to side with those pushing the Indep ...  Show more