Countermajoritarian Confounder
The least democratic part of American government is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Articles By: Medha Gargeya 
Medha Gargeya reports on the Supreme Court and campus politics. She is interested in studying government and religion and is passionate about matters of constitutional law and civic engagement. Medha hails from the proud state of North Carolina, where she evaded garnering a Southern twang but bred a strong love for sweet tea and obscenely fried foods. In addition to working with the Review, Medha enjoys teaching with Harvard Model Congress and CIVICS. She also sings with the Lowell House Opera Company and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. When not perusing SCOTUSBlog, Medha can found experimenting with foods at the dining hall, hiding from the generally treacherous weather, or skyping with her little brother.
Feldman’s “Scorpions”
In Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices, Noah Feldman, the Bemis Professor of International Law at HLS, paints the lives of Justices Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter and Robert H. Jackson. Feldman argues FDR’s appointees were largely outsiders. Both Justice Black and Justice Jackson had a scant legal education. Justice Douglas came from a ... Read More
Weighing In: Cameras in the High Court
In her recent post, Caroline argued that televising oral arguments of the Court would fix the public’s ignorance about the Supreme Court and the activities of the judicial branch. The independence of the judiciary, so the argument goes, will not be compromised given a few nonintrusive electrical fixtures. At the same time, the people will gain much from being able ... Read More
Playground Politics: Alito’s Anticipated Absence
Last year, Justice Alito shook his head and mouthed “not true” when President Obama made an uncharacteristic jab at the Supreme Court for its decision in a campaign finance case. At a question and answer session following a speech at the Manhattan Institute, Justice Alito announced that he will not attend the State of the Union address this year. He found ... Read More
Slide to the Right: The Conservatism of the Roberts Court
It’s easy to get caught up in the cha-cha slide. Slide to the left. Slide to the right. Freeze! Everybody clap your hands! You don’t really pay attention to whose toes you’re stepping on, where you’re going, or how goofy you really look. Perhaps that’s a good thing, but I can make the argument that the populus is dancing the ... Read More
Active Breyer: Making the Liberal Bloc Work
Author of “Active Liberty” and the newly released “Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View,” Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer begins the new term as the second most senior member of the liberal bloc after Justice Ginsburg. President Clinton appointed Breyer to the High Court in 1994. Without any appointments until the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist in 2005, Justice ... Read More
