Reason Podcast

Randy Barnett on the Secret History of SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings: Podcast

The libertarian legal scholar explains the post-Bork landscape and what might derail Trump's high-court pick.

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When President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Randy Barnett—a libertarian legal scholar, Georgetown Law professor, and Volokh Conspiracy blogger—praised the choice, writing that "Kavanaugh's appointment would move the Court in the direction of textualism and originalism. He's very interested in the separation of powers in general and with respect to the administrative state in particular."

In a new Reason Podcast recorded at FreedomFest, the annual gathering of libertarians in Las Vegas, Barnett fleshes out his assessment of Kavanaugh, including areas in which the judge is not so good from a libertarian point of view (think Fourth Amendment). Barnett also talks about the history of Supreme Court confirmation hearings and the radical departure things took with the nomination of Robert Bork to the high court in 1987.

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Audio production by Ian Keyser.

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