Episode Details

By granting former President Donald Trump absolute immunity from criminal prosecution "for official acts" as Trump fights charges stemming from his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results, the Supreme Court "descended to a level of shame reserved until now for the Roger B. Taney Court that decided the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857," says Princeton historian Sean Wilentz in an essay for The New York Review. In this episode, Wilentz discusses the problems with the Court's 6-3 ruling that declared a president above the law -- a first in U.S. history.