Supreme Court dissents have it all: brilliant writing, surprising reasoning, shade, puns, and sometimes historic impact. Although they are necessarily written by the "losing" side, they’re still important: they can provide a roadmap for future challenges or persuade other justices. Sometimes they're just cathartic.
In Dissed, attorneys Anastasia Boden and Elizabeth Slattery dig deep into important dissents, both past and present, and reveal the stories behind them.
Twitter: @EHSlattery @Anastasia_Esq @PacificLegal
Email us at Dissed@pacificlegal.org
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Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
NEW PODCAST: In Dissent with Anastasia Boden
Hungry for more? Join Anastasia Boden for season one of the new In Dissent podcast.
In Dissent traces the founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence from the rev
May 22 1 min
Lady Justice Isn’t Blind
Lady Justice is often depicted wearing a blindfold, signifying that judges are neutral arbiters of the law. Unfortunately, thanks for a judicial doctrine known as Chevron
Jul 19 2023 46 min
A Ripsnorting Dissent
The government’s deprivation of life, liberty, or property is legitimate only if preceded by certain procedural protections—better known as due process of law. This inclu
Apr 5 2023 40 min
The Buck Stops with the President
The federal government is brimming with hundreds of agencies and millions of employees, many of whom enjoy some independence from political accountability. But the Presid
Mar 8 2023 38 min
Delegation Running Riot at SCOTUS
A central feature of our Constitution’s separation of powers is that Congress is charged with making the law, and it can’t give away this power to the other branches of g
Feb 8 2023 38 min
The Supreme Court and Indian Children
In 1978, amid a sordid history of Native American children being taken from their families and placed in custody of non-Indians, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare
Jan 4 2023 40 min
Korematsu and the Court of History
In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans. It’s the first time the court applied strict scrutiny to racial discrimination by governme
Dec 7 2022 38 min
BONUS: Supreme Court Justice – DENIED!
In this bonus episode, the ladies tell the sad tale of John Rutledge, the first Supreme Court nominee rejected by the Senate. It’s a cautionary tale that demonstrates why
Nov 23 2022 16 min
Total Swine
Dairy and apples and whiskey and wine. Many of our favorite things have turned in up cases involving the Commerce Clause at the Supreme Court. This term, the Court will c
Nov 9 2022 34 min
BONUS: Who is Clarence Thomas?
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is well known for his heterodox legal views and willingness to stick to his principles. What’s less known is his incredible story. B
Oct 19 2022 21 min
Water, Water Everywhere
What are “navigable waters of the United States”? It’s a question agency bureaucrats and property owners have battled over since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 197
Sep 30 2022 40 min
BONUS: A Live Supreme Court Preview
In this bonus episode, the ladies are joined by two fellow SCOTUS watchers to preview the Supreme Court's new term.
Follow us on Twitter: @EHSlattery @Anastasia_Esq @Pa
Sep 26 2022 44 min
Six Trials, Seventy-Two Jurors, and One Supreme Court Dissent
In 1996, someone murdered four people in a furniture store in a small town in Mississippi. A year later, Curtis Flowers was convicted of the crime, but the verdict was ov
Jul 6 2022 37 min
BONUS: A Dog's Breakfast
In this bonus episode, the ladies discuss the most highly anticipated case of the Supreme Court’s term: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Center, overruling Roe v. Wade and the ri
Jun 30 2022 38 min
Will the Real Tone Dougie Please Stand Down
This is the story of Tone Dougie, an aspiring rapper who posted rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife and blowing up an FBI agent. Tone Dougie says he d
Jun 22 2022 31 min
BONUS: And Bingo Was His Name-o
In this bonus episode, the ladies discuss an exciting cert grant and the Supreme Court’s recent opinions and dissents related to the Double Jeopardy Clause, bingo, and In
Jun 16 2022 24 min
Thurgood Marshall and the Machinery of Death
In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was being “so wantonly and so freakishly imposed” that it was “cruel and unusual in the same way that being struc
Jun 8 2022 38 min
BONUS: Which Case Should SCOTUS Overturn?
In this bonus episode, four guests joined us to make the case for why the Supreme Court should overrule Chevron v. NRDC, Kelo v. City of New London, Wickard v. Filburn, o
Jun 2 2022 15 min
License to Mildly Burn
This is the story of Bond. Carole Anne Bond. She discovered her husband and her best friend were having an affair. And her friend was pregnant. What Bond did next led to
May 25 2022 37 min
Scalia/Ginsburg
This episode concerns one of the most vociferous dissents of all times: Justice Antonin Scalia's scathing opinion in United States v. Virginia, which was aimed at none ot
Feb 2 2022 58 min
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A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
What a great show! That’s a wonderful balance of new and old cases to highlight how the Court has changed. It leaves no stone unturned. The hosts do a really good job, and it’s well produced
JLEdc · Dec 2022
Love to see a women-led podcast about SCOTUS. Even better that it focuses on dissenting opinions. This podcast is fun and educational for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. Well done!
1 First St · Dec 2022
Every episode tells a new story; the hosts are funny and smart ladies who break legal cases down so they’re easy to follow and entertaining. Scots for anyone interested in SCOTUS!
scotus007 · Oct 2022
The episodes are wonderfully written to concisely explain complex issues. The hosts have insightful, smart remarks. The pace is perfect to keep things interesting. The audio clips of the Justices are great; and I love the efficient use of audio clips of guests/commentators. I’m so glad I found this podcast. It’s so well done.
Keep up the excellent work!
ChicJD · Oct 2021
What an enormous letdown. Here I thought I would get a civic education in the Court’s most famous dissents. Boy, was I wrong. Especially with respect to the Court’s recent decisions, these hosts offer decidedly (but misleadingly, not at all self-identified as) *deeply* and *unbalanced* conservative takes on virtually every single case—whether they are discussing the facts, the issues, the outcomes, the history, or the doctrine. (The episode recapping Dobbs and Bruen is an appallingly representative example.) And this practice is not, as one of the disingenuous, condescending hosts claims, “nuance”—it’s deliberately and insidiously unacknowledged partisanship. It should come as no surprise to listeners what the podcast’s info section fails to make clear: the hosts are scions of the Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society, Cato Institute, and other right-wing judicial think tanks. They have an agenda. And that agenda permeates the entirety of their commentary. What a waste. If you want a real education on the Court and its decisions from women with actual expertise, listen to the podcast Strict Scrutiny. Those hosts actually clerked—and clerks for Supreme Court justices. And they actually teach law. They aren’t foot soldier attorneys for a “libertarian” advocacy group pretending to educate a pool of unwary listeners.
This podcast needs to be honest about what it’s doing or hang up its hat. You can’t have your cake and eat it.
davpt · Dec 2022
While most episodes are informative and entertaining, it’s incredibly clear that there is conservative cis white bias to the podcast that doesn’t even try to entertain differing views when political topics come up. Personal and theoretical level views promoted on the podcast lack research on how such a policy does or would negatively impact millions of Americans.
Petet199 · Feb 2023
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