Episode 12 | Judges Gone Wild

About this episode

The hosts discuss the Supreme Court's shadow docket and its implications on judicial decisions.

Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, rave about the Supreme Court's shadow docket. The shadow docket allows the Court quickly to rein in rogue district judges and their crazy opinions. Our hosts in particular talk about Justice Kavanaugh's shadow docket decision involving "Kavanaugh Stops," Justice Sotomayor's personal attack on Kavanaugh, Judge Boasberg's TdA ruling, and the D.C. Circuit's benchslap of his recent attempt to hold Trump officials in contempt. They also tal...

People in this episode

Hosts: Ilan Wurman, Kathryn Johnson

Topics covered

• Supreme Court
• shadow docket
• judicial decisions
• legal opinions
• political commentary

Keywords

• Supreme Court
• shadow docket
• Kavanaugh
• Sotomayor
• Boasberg
• Trump
• judicial review

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: D.C. Circuit

More episodes of rationally BASED

• Episode 22 | Judges vs. The People: The Latest Battles on Transgender Activism & Illegal Immigration · June 11, 2026 · 1h 11m
• Episode 21 | America's Disordered Cities · June 8, 2026 · 52 min
• Episode 20 | Anti-Weaponization Fund – Tit-for-Tat or Unilateral Disarmament? · June 4, 2026 · 1h 7m
• Episode 19 | Autocrat Judges: Israel's Warning for America · May 28, 2026 · 1h 29m
• Episode 18 | The Constitution of 1789 · May 20, 2026 · 47 min
• Episode 17 | Mandatory Detention Percolation · May 14, 2026 · 1h 12m