Leah Litman’s New E book Examines As we speak’s Supreme Courtroom

From her clerkship with former Justice Anthony Kennedy to her present educating on constitutional legislation and the federal courts, Litman is effectively positioned as an observer of the Supreme Courtroom and its actions of the previous a number of years. 

Her goal in writing the e-book, Lawless: How the Supreme Courtroom Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Unhealthy Vibes (Atria/One Sign Publishers, 2025), was to tell readers who are usually not immersed within the legislation concerning the workings of the Supreme Courtroom at this explicit level in its historical past. 

Litman received the concept for the e-book from her expertise co-hosting Strict Scrutiny, the award-winning podcast concerning the courtroom.

“Plenty of very sensible folks wish to perceive the Supreme Courtroom higher,” she stated. “The e-book was designed to offer them a useful resource that I hope can be accessible about how the courtroom received to the place it’s and what I believe is driving their selections.” 

The subtitle says it all

For perception into her pondering, look no additional than the subtitle of her e-book: How the Supreme Courtroom Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Unhealthy Vibes. 

Her “aha” second for the e-book got here a number of seasons in the past when she was studying a Supreme Courtroom resolution and determined that it was influenced by the justices’ personal biases towards the concern. 

“We frequently consider legislation as one thing that’s goal and determinant, the place there are proper solutions,” she stated. 

“Vibes, in contrast, are extra subjective; they’re your innermost emotions. By suggesting the courtroom is drawing on vibes relatively than legislation, it’s meant to recommend that what they’re doing is imparting extra of their very own views into the legislation that governs all of us.”

She added that “fringe theories” refers to the concept the courtroom is drawing on views held by a minority of the nation, whereas “conservative grievance” is the concept a few of the justices look like satisfied that conservatives are the victims of a society that doesn’t share their views.

“The justices zero in on totally different teams—be it males, spiritual and social conservatives, the megarich, company executives—they usually describe these teams as the actual victims in society,” Litman stated. “However after we take into consideration the highly effective in society, these teams aren’t the plain victims of discrimination right now. I hope folks recognize how odd that is.”

For instance, she provides what the courtroom has stated and executed about marketing campaign finance regulation, “the place they mainly instructed that legal guidelines that strive to make sure everybody’s political spending is roughly equal are unfair to the megarich as a result of they don’t enable the megarich to outspend everybody else. The concept that the megarich are the victims of a system that tries to make itself democratic must be hanging to folks.”

Humor helps

Whereas Litman’s arguments are all very severe, her writing is much from dry, with humor woven all through the e-book. The humor dietary supplements the years of expertise she brings to analyzing the courtroom’s selections. 

And whereas the courtroom’s approval scores at present hover at historic lows, she stated the issues she writes about have been round for a whereas. 

She attracts on earlier instances to underscore that argument. 

“I used to be on the Supreme Courtroom when not as many individuals had been satisfied that it was not functioning effectively,” stated Litman, who clerked for Justice Kennedy from 2011 to 2012. “However part of me thinks that’s as a result of folks misunderstood the courtroom and weren’t paying sufficient consideration to it. So a number of the e-book tries to attract from earlier instances. I do suppose the scenario has gotten worse, however I don’t know that it’s totally different in variety from how the Supreme Courtroom has acted earlier than.”

Litman concludes the e-book by noting the ebbs and flows within the courtroom’s historical past, with shifts typically in response to public stress and different occasions in response to political actions or modifications in personnel.

“Now we have the courtroom we have now as a result of there was a motion that fought for that courtroom,” she stated. “If you wish to change the courtroom, you have to develop a long-term technique. That’s not one thing that’s going to occur in a single day, however it’s one thing that may occur in the event you educate your self, keep organized, keep invested, vote, and do the entire issues which can be simply a part of being an knowledgeable citizen.”