Cloak and Docket

This episode of The American Mind Podcast, titled 'Cloak and Docket,' dissects a New York Times exposé on the Supreme Court’s 'shadow docket'—a set of expedited rulings that bypass full deliberation. Host Spencer Clavin and guest Ryan Gannon critique the Times’ framing of Chief Justice John Roberts as a partisan bulldozer in the 2016 decision to stay President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, arguing that the piece is less about legal procedure and more a politically charged narrative aimed at discrediting Roberts and the conservative majority. They contend the shadow docket is a necessary response to the expanding power of the administrative state, especially under both Democratic and Republican administrations, where executive agencies like the EPA implement sweeping policies without congressional approval. The episode highlights how Obama’s use of regulatory authority—such as the Clean Power Plan and DACA—created precedents that forced the Court to intervene quickly, often via the shadow docket, to prevent irreversible policy changes. The hosts also explore the broader implications of this trend, including the politicization of leaks (such as the Sotomayor memo anomaly), the Democratic Party’s growing calls for court expansion and statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico, and the ideological divide over whether the left is more effective at achieving policy goals through institutional maneuvering. Ultimately, they argue that the left’s philosophical shift away from natural law and constitutionalism has led to a more autocratic, results-driven approach, while the right remains hamstrung by proceduralism and principle.