The Supreme Court's Credibility

The Supreme Court has no army, no budget, and no way to enforce its own rulings. Its power rests entirely on the credibility of its words. Attorney and author Peter Cohen joins Dr. Katie Crawford Lackey to explore what happens when you go straight to the source — reading the justices' opinions directly rather than relying on outside interpretation. Drawing on his book In the Supreme Court's Own Words, Cohen walks through two centuries of landmark decisions in which the court checked presidential power, explains why dissenting opinions like Justice Harlan's in Plessy v. Ferguson can become the law of the land decades later, and makes the case that Supreme Court decisions are far more accessible than most people assume. From Lincoln and habeas corpus to Truman and the steel mills to the constitutional questions playing out in real time today, this conversation is a reminder that the framers feared monarchy — and built a system designed to prevent it. This episode is supported in part by the Virginia Law Foundation.