Hey there!
I’m so excited to share this exciting news with you! Today is the official launch day of Pod Save our History. The podcast is a public history project aiming to make research about history more accessible to everyone.
The launch series, The Rise of the Supreme Court is available now for download here!
When I think about the Supreme Court today, I’m reminded of some of its most recent decisions paving the road to religious discrimination in Fulton v. Philadelphia or the further dismantling of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Brnovich.
Over the course of American history, the Supreme Court grew from an obscure branch of government without much power into the decisive, and often conclusive, decision-maker it is today. But, here’s a question, how and why did the Supreme Court become so powerful?
The Rise of the Supreme Court tells the story of the drama that unfolded between 1800 and 1803 when President John Adams and the Federalist party (current day GOP) sought to aggregate its political power in the federal judiciary because they lost the presidency and the Congress.
The Virginia congressman, John Randolph, mocked president Adams for making the judiciary “a hospital for decaying politicians”
This was the first sign that the judiciary was going to be used as an institution to harbor political elites who could wield tremendous political power while remaining shielded from electoral accountability!
The end result was that politics began to shape the court into what it is today—a power reserve for political parties.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Di Carlo
New episodes of the podcast will be released every week on Tuesdays. You can get access to the podcast through your preferred platform by clicking here.
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