Supreme Bench Warmers

On this episode, we start by briefly discussing whether the GOP can legally decide to disavow Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. Then we look at two Supreme Court cases that were argued last week: Buck v. Davis and Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado, both of which dealt with race issues. Buck v. Davis was a case where the defendant was sentenced to death in Texas due in part to the testimony provided by his own defense expert witness, a psychologist that said black people are more prone to violence. The Supreme Court must now decide how much race can be used by expert witnesses who take the stand in criminal cases. The second case, Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado, deals with how much leeway is given to jurors during deliberation. In this case, one of the jurors was a police officer who specifically used his role in law enforcement to persuade the jury against the defendant because both the defendant and the defendant's alibi witness were from Mexico and thus, according to the juror, couldn't be trusted. The Court must decide whether this is enough to declare a mistrial. We then spend the majority of the podcast talking about the new 9/11 Saudi Arabia bill that just passed in Congress. This bill would allow victims and families of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to bring lawsuits against Saudi Arabia for any role that the government played in these attacks. This bill was vetoed by President Obama, and then Congress overrode Obama's veto for the first time in Obama's presidency. We have guest speaker, John Miller, on to talk about the political and international implications of this bill and the most likely outcome that will come if this bill is put to use.

On this episode of Supreme Court Benchwarmers we discuss Obama's newest Supreme Court nomination, Merrick Garland, where he is in the process of confirmation, and the Constitutional issues in getting him on the bench. We also discuss DAPA and DACA, executive orders which led to a major Supreme Court case last fall from the fifth circuit. Finally, can you do more pushups than Ruth Bader Ginsburg? All this and more on our latest podcast.