I have heard about the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” for some time, but never knew what it meant. The phrase is in the news because Justice Jackson has been criticizing its use. So, what exactly is the shadow docket, and is its use a good thing or a bad thing?
On the Rationally Based podcast, law professor Ilan Wurman and co-host Kathryn Johnson explain, in these two back to back shorts:
So basically, the Supreme Court majority is using its emergency powers to prevent rogue Democratic Party judges from baselessly blocking (“temporarily”) the policies that Americans elected the Trump administration to carry out.
Those clips are from Rationally Based Episode 12, which is embedded here for those who may want to watch the whole thing:
Rationally Based is produced by American Experiment. There is also a Rationally Based Substack. Which prompts, if you will indulge me, an amusing story. A Substack commenter wrote:
Suggestion: tell us something about Kathryn’s background. You referred to CLE credits on the last episode, so I’m inferring she’s a lawyer. [Ed.: She isn’t.] Since her last name is Johnson I’m curious if she’s part of the distinguished Minnesota Johnson family — Scott Johnson and Eliana Johnson — or if she found her way to the Center of the American Experiment purely on her own merit, without family connections. (I hope that sounds as light-hearted as I meant it to be.)
What’s funny about that is that Kathryn is my daughter. So the commenter was close! I would only add that while it was not random that Kathryn came to work for American Experiment, everything she has accomplished is on her own merit.
