The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Elon Musk "Butthurt" Over Trump Bill, Meet Tim Pool | Leah Litman on "Lawless" SCOTUS

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Michael Kosta dives into the fallout of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill: Elon slamming the “sprawling spending bill" and turning on Trump, Democrats backing Elon’s criticisms, and Marjori...e Taylor Greene revealing she never read it in the first place. Plus, the Big Beautiful Bill (Troy Iwata) claps back at all the new haters. The Trump administration has pushed out legacy media outlets from the White House press room in favor of more conspiratorial right-wing "new media" figures like Tim Pool: a conservative YouTuber and podcaster passionate about stroking Trump's ego and delivering truthful reporting sponsored by Russian interests. University of Michigan Law professor and “Strict Scrutiny” co-host Leah Litman joins Michael Kosta to discuss her New York Times bestseller, “Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes.”By making the inner workings of SCOTUS more accessible and believing in the power of “talking sh*t,” she explains how the nation’s highest court has been operating under conservative guidance with little code of ethics in rolling back LGBTQ+ and minority discrimination protections and targeting reproductive rights after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Michael Kosta! -♪ Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, who So much to talk about tonight. Trump and Elon go from BFFs to enemies for life. Republicans get caught not doing their summer reading. And Chuck Schumer finally learning how to be charismatic. No, no, no, no, he's not. But first, Congress is busy wheeling and dealing
Starting point is 00:00:54 over Donald Trump's legislative agenda. So let's get into it with our ongoing coverage of the big, beautiful bill. ["The Big, Beautiful Bill"] Oh. I sleep with that. I wrap it around, I kiss it at night. Washington is a lot like high school, and not just because all the politicians are trying to date high schoolers.
Starting point is 00:01:19 It's also because when a friendship ends, it explodes. And right now, we are drenched in the fallout. Breaking news, war of words between Elon Musk and the GOP lawmakers. This comes after the tech mogul is speaking out again on the president's sprawling spending bill. He says, I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Jesus you can't just call this bill a pork filled abomination
Starting point is 00:01:51 that's reserved for the new TGI Friday's appetizer. 9.99 for a whole fried. But this rift between Musk and Trump presents an incredible opportunity for Democrats to go on the attack. Hit him with everything you got. Let's go, Dems! I hear something happened while we were at lunch, which led me to make some news here today and say something I didn't think was imaginable.
Starting point is 00:02:22 I agree with Elon Musk. My God that is so lame. And I feel so inspired when I hear Chuck Schumer I just want to hit the streets and then keep walking in. A little farther until eventually I come to a body of water and then you know give up on democracy. Nice try Chuck Schumer any other Democrat want to take a shot. until eventually I come to a body of water and then, you know, give up on democracy. Nice try, Chuck Schumer.
Starting point is 00:02:47 Any other Democrat want to take a shot? Breaking news, Elon Musk and I agree with each other. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Schumer already did that. That's the first rule they teach you in comedy college. A joke always gets funnier when you have to repeat it. And that's the first rule they teach you in comedy college. A joke always gets funnier when you have to repeat it. And that's the first rule they teach you in comedy college. A joke always gets funnier when you have to repeat it. And even if Democrats can't take advantage of it,
Starting point is 00:03:17 it's still shocking for Elon to turn on Trump like this. Why did he do it? The source in Trump world claiming that Elon was, quote, butthurt, in part because the bill didn't include giveaways to his companies. Musk is upset that the spending bill cuts the electric vehicle tax credit.
Starting point is 00:03:35 The White House denied his request to have the Federal Aviation Administration use his Starlink satellite system. Are you kidding me? He's upset about that. Let's review all that Elon Musk has gained from his $288 million investment into this presidency, 100 million in NASA contracts he got to freeze 40 federal investigations against
Starting point is 00:03:57 his companies fired anybody who could regulate or tax him and he got the president of the United States to plug his car company and Trump almost pronounced its name correctly. I love Tesla. Oh! But he's still pissed because he couldn't skim every last dollar from the Treasury?
Starting point is 00:04:17 There's got to be a better reason. Plus, we're learning Musk had hoped to stay on with the White House as a special government employee beyond 130 days, but apparently the White House didn't accommodate that. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The White House couldn't accommodate that? That does sound like bullshit.
Starting point is 00:04:35 You know, Donald Trump is literally defying court orders as we speak, but with this, he's like, sorry, Elon, rules are rules, you know? If I break regulation 46C of the federal employee handbook, what separates us from animals? No, Elon Musk got fired. Now I get why he's mad. It doesn't matter how rich you are.
Starting point is 00:04:57 Getting fired sucks. You never totally get over being fired. I got fired from Chuck E. Cheese in 1999, and I still have dreams about going up to the manager and saying, no, Bruce, you're the one that ate pizza scraps instead of throwing them out. Hope you're watching, Bruce. But whatever the reason for Elon's butt pain,
Starting point is 00:05:20 it seems to have opened the floodgates. And now it's giving life to a growing Republican backlash against the bill What I'm concerned about is they didn't cut enough spending. We've got to have some fiscal sanity here. We're running $2 trillion deficits. We need to try to reduce spending as much as we possibly can. It's hugely concerning to me This is immoral what us old farts are doing to our young people this is grotesque what we're doing. Yes, this bill is doing to young people is grotesque now it's not as bad as what this bill is doing to young people but it's still pretty gross.
Starting point is 00:05:58 You didn't see that one coming did you. In fact the backlash to the bill is getting so big that even Republicans who already voted for it are backlashing. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Even though the Congresswoman voted for the bill in the House, she now says in full transparency that she wasn't aware of a section that would strip states
Starting point is 00:06:21 of their ability to regulate artificial intelligence for the next decade. Here's a lesson for us all. No matter what political party holds office and is in charge, we should all watch carefully the bills that we pass. Yep. Yep. No shit. I mean... Smart. No shit. I mean...
Starting point is 00:06:45 Smart. I mean, congrats on coming out against a crazy thing in this bill, but you weren't aware of what was in it? That's your job. This isn't book club. You can't just read the first seven pages and then be like, I love it, Linda, more rosé. But here's what's really unbelievable about this story. We can shit on MTG, and we like, I love it, Linda, more rosé. But here's what's really unbelievable about this story. We can shit on MTG, and we will because it's so fun to,
Starting point is 00:07:10 but she isn't even the only Republican who's admitting she didn't read the whole bill before voting for it. Some voters in Nebraska confronted their congressman, Republican Mike Flood, and he admitted that he voted in favor of the bill without reading a provision that would make it harder for judges to hold parties in contempt for defying court orders.
Starting point is 00:07:30 I do not agree with that section that was added to that bill. This provision was unknown to me when I voted for the bill. Hey, hey, hey, why are you guys booing me? I'm just telling you I didn't do the bare minimum of my job. Feels like you should be applauding me for my honesty. Come on. I know reading a 1,000 page bill is boring. I get it.
Starting point is 00:07:59 Reading sucks. I can't even get through the birthday cards my kids give me. I love you so much. Blah, blah, blah. Wrap it up already. But you gotta read these bills. It's not like a 23andMe Terms of Service Agreement where you can just blindly sign it and now there's a clone of you who's a sex slave for an Uzbek oligarch.
Starting point is 00:08:19 Unlike that, these bills are important. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, at this point, there's basically an open revolt against the bill. And this must really piss off House Speaker Mike Johnson. He's busted his balls for months putting this thing together. And after one tweet from Elon Musk, everybody's turning on it? Don't take that shit, Mike. All right?
Starting point is 00:08:43 Tell that pasty South African, belly-flashing sperm fountain absent baby daddy, friendless Ziploc bag full of jizz, ketamine, ketamine, ketamine, ketamine, ketamine, Rasputin,
Starting point is 00:08:58 Rasputin, dead-eye, dead-eye, dead-eye, dead-eye, dead-eye, dead-eye, dead-eye, dead-eye, dead-in, dead-eye, deadbeat, doze donkey, Hitler-waving, seething distributor. Where he can shove his tweets.
Starting point is 00:09:08 Come on! With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the one big, beautiful bill. Oh, my god. None of them are good at this. For more on the Republicans backing away from their own big, beautiful bill, we go live to Washington with the actual big, beautiful bill.
Starting point is 00:09:27 Bill. Bill. Bill, wow. These Republicans have some pretty harsh words for you. Well, I have some harsh words for them, Michael. How rude. First of all, they were gassing me up, calling me beautiful. They spent all night passing me.
Starting point is 00:09:47 But after they ran me through the house, now they act like they weren't into it? Please. Well, to be fair, they're finding out a lot about you. You ban regulations on AI. You allow the president to ignore court orders. You kick millions of people off their healthcare. They passed me. Okay? They're the ones who voted for me without getting to know me. You kick millions of people off their healthcare. They passed me, okay?
Starting point is 00:10:05 They're the ones who voted for me without getting to know me. They say they regret it now, but you should have seen them on the House floor. It was wild, okay? They're trying to stuff their amendments into me, all 220 of them. They're screaming, screaming, I, I, I thought I had a little thing to say, but I say, I want a bunch of pervs.
Starting point is 00:10:24 Okay, okay, but... But a lot, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, Marjorie, you sweet, sweet girl. You think you lowered yourself for me? I am so far above you, I can see the Jewish space lasers you love so much. Okay? Sorry if I'm being too honest, but you know me, the BBB, I tell it like it is. I can't really snap, but you get it. Okay, okay. Well, what now?
Starting point is 00:11:01 All right, you're going to have to face these people again if you want to become law. I know, I know. I have to be the bigger Bill. I'm just done with these boys in the house. I think I'm gonna take some time to do some self care, do some light reading, light reading of myself, and then I'll be ready. I'll be ready to go to the Senate where the mature politicians are.
Starting point is 00:11:29 I don't think senators will be any more mature. Yeah, they will. They're all like 95. No, I mean, I don't know if senators are going to read all of you either. Politicians just don't take their job seriously. I know. Michael, they're not responsible like you journalists are. I'm sure you've read all of me, right?
Starting point is 00:11:46 Of course. I mean, I'm a professional, aren't I? I wouldn't have talked about the bill for the whole headline without reading it. Of course. Okay, yeah. Okay, then what's your favorite provision? Yeah, without looking at me. Hey, you know what?
Starting point is 00:11:57 The big, beautiful bill, everyone. When we come back, we find out the next generation of sell-outs, so don't go away. I mean, so don't go away. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't.
Starting point is 00:12:10 I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't.
Starting point is 00:12:18 I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. I mean, I don't. Welcome back to The Daily Show. Every year there's more and more reporters in the news media.
Starting point is 00:12:30 So to find out who some of them are, we go to Jordan Klepper in our segment, News to Meet Ya. Ever since President Trump took office, he's been attacking the establishment press harder than Elon's face by his own kids. And now the Trump administration is welcoming a crop of new media reporters to the White House. In fact, they're not just replacing old media. They're great replacing them.
Starting point is 00:13:02 Starting today, this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary's staff, will be called the new media seat. We have an individual in our new media seat today. His name is Tim Pool. Okay! All right. Lovely to meet you, Tim Pool, a YouTuber and, I'm assuming,
Starting point is 00:13:22 former GameStop employee. Now, his head might be cold, but he's in the hot seat. Let's hear him hold this administration's feet to the fire. Many of these organizations that are represented in this room have marked in lockstep on false narratives, such as the Very Fine People hoax, the Covington smear, and now what's being called the Maryland man hoax.
Starting point is 00:13:46 I'm wondering if you can comment on the unprofessional behavior. Wow. Wow. Now that's a great question. Everyone in this room sucks. Do you care to comment? Okay.
Starting point is 00:13:59 Okay, so the Trump administration has brought in the perfect weapon, someone who can attack the media from within the media. He's like a wolf in sheep's clothing if that clothing came from Hot Topic. You know what? You know what? Looks can be deceiving. If he has White House credentials,
Starting point is 00:14:17 I'm sure he brings the dignified, well-sourced positions that we expect from qualified journalists. You've got stories of migrants drilling cats and slaughtering mammals in the street. The left are like, women only get paid 73 cents on the dollar for what a man makes. But at the same time, you have this trend of ladies' nights where at bars women get discounts when they buy drinks.
Starting point is 00:14:38 So spare me, dude. Because of trans issues, we must refer to the vagina as the front hole. Whoa! What? I can't believe what my upper side holes are hearing! My middle face hole is a cape! My back hole is clenched.
Starting point is 00:15:06 Are we all caught up here on how we're doing? You know what? This is just how new media talks. If you're offended by that, you're stuck in the old legacy media world and don't understand what an alpha this guy is. He's cool, tough, and you know what? The ladies love him. We're gonna end up with a generation of women who view almost all men as inadequate. I think it's crazy that I'm about to be 34
Starting point is 00:15:29 and I have no family. You know what the problem is, though? It's definitely not me. I think it's everybody else. You know, I'm going to play this hand blind and say it's definitely you, Tim. Hello. I'm gonna play this hand blind and say it's definitely you Tim In fairness, I'm sure it's hard out there for guys who look like Joe Pesci's home alone stunt double fair if I Fine, he's not great at analyzing his love life
Starting point is 00:16:01 But that doesn't mean he isn't great at analyzing the political landscape and telling us not just what's happening, but what's going to happen next. Like the predictions he made about January 6th, two days prior. Newsweek says exclusive threat of pro-Trump violence in Washington overshadows inauguration security plans. Oh, I just love the depravity of these news outlets. When did Trump tweet, go get violent and instigate violence?
Starting point is 00:16:31 Trump said, be there, it'll be wild. What does that even, I'm having a party, everybody better be there, it's gonna be wild. What does that mean? Does that mean we're gonna bring guns and it's gonna be violent? No, it means we're gonna have a party. Yeah!
Starting point is 00:16:41 That's right, bro! And you know what they say, it ain't a party until somebody drops a deuce at Nancy Pelosi's desk. Yeah, fine, fine. So new media's Tim Pool was wrong about January 6th. He's not a mind reader, even though he dresses like a street magician. Still, still, Tim can promise you this.
Starting point is 00:17:02 He brings you the unbiased and unfiltered truth. The news you're getting comes straight from me and straight from the source. I don't have a political agenda. Bringing real news and not narrative to all of you. Exactly. It's truth to table journalism. Immune to propaganda and outside influence,
Starting point is 00:17:20 Tim Poole is an honest man who cannot be bought. Popular far-right American influencer Tim Poole is an honest man who cannot be bought. Popular, far-right American influencer Tim Poole, unwittingly paid by Russian state media company RT as part of an operation to influence American politics. Poole promoting pro-Russian narratives on a host of issues. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Are you saying I shouldn't trust a man who dresses like a divorced ghost hunter? What? Whoa. Whoa. No.
Starting point is 00:17:48 You know what? These, these, these news reports can say whatever they want to say, but I'm sure he's not blatantly shilling for Russia. Ukraine is the enemy of this country. Ukraine is our enemy. Being funded by the Democrats, I will stress again, one of the greatest enemies of our nation right now is Ukraine. We should rescind all funding and financing,
Starting point is 00:18:14 pull out all military support, and we should apologize to Russia. Wow. Now that is customer service. Come on, Tim, you're better than this. These allegations are true. I'm outraged! You can't be pushing Russian propaganda. It doesn't matter how much they're paying you.
Starting point is 00:18:33 A new report claims that during the 2024 campaign, Russian state media funneled $100,000 per episode to Tim Pool. $100,000?! F*** me in my front hole! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! All right, all right.
Starting point is 00:18:54 So what have we learned here today? We learned that Tim Pool has been compromised by Russian interests. However, the good news is I have not. Give me a call, Vlad, for the right price. This face hole can be all yours. Dasvidanya, comrades. I'm Jordan Klepper. Good night and seriously, good f***ing luck. -♪ -♪
Starting point is 00:19:29 Thank you, Jordan. When we come back, Leah Littman will be joining me on the show. Don't go away. Dasvidanya. -♪ -♪ the and author of the New York Times bestseller lawless please
Starting point is 00:20:07 welcome Leah L Lipman. -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ You know how excited... -♪ These people are so f***ing excited about constitutional law. Yeah!
Starting point is 00:20:28 Incredible. Thank you for coming on the show. Your book, How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes. Explain vibes to me. Okay, so by vibes, I kind of mean feelings and the political talking points of the Republican Party that the justices are laundering into the law or sometimes just declaring to be the law. Yeah, so when they invalidated Joe
Starting point is 00:20:54 Biden student debt relief plan they announced. They announced they didn't exactly have to follow the law like what Congress enacted, because student debt relief raised questions that were personal and emotionally charged, i.e. it triggered them. And so that just became the law. Are you saying the Supreme Court is...
Starting point is 00:21:18 can have feelings and is acting on those feelings? I'm saying they are a bunch of snowflakes. Oh, by notice. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. There's a lot of that in this.
Starting point is 00:21:32 And it is very refreshing to read and hear on your podcast, Strict Scrutiny, hear people just talk shit about the Supreme Court. And is that OK to do that? I think it's more than OK. So one is I wanted to put this in a language that even Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch could understand. So we needed to make it accessible and whatnot.
Starting point is 00:22:03 But second is I think the Supreme Court is this incredibly powerful and not well-understood institution. And I wanted to make information about the Supreme Court accessible. I wanted to energize people to get involved in learning more about the Supreme Court and wanting to do something about it. Um.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This audience seems to know a lot about the Supreme Court, but let's assume, let's assume that our viewing audience and maybe even the host...
Starting point is 00:22:33 Laughter ...needs a refresher on what's actually happening right now in the Supreme Court. And talk to me not like a child. Talk to me like a blob. Okay. Laughter Okay, so here's the basic rule of Supreme Court Fight Club right now.
Starting point is 00:22:49 Great. That's a movie. I understand that reference. There you go. Okay. So the basic rule is there is no discrimination against women, racial minorities, gays and lesbians and trans people, but there is discrimination against white wingers or white right wingers, and that kind of discrimination is everywhere,
Starting point is 00:23:09 and it's so prevalent that gives them the right to discriminate against everyone else, but you're not allowed to call it discrimination because that's too mean to them. Right. So that's what's happening right now. That's the basic vibe, yes. Well, look, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and we're all reacting to that.
Starting point is 00:23:33 But I wonder, besides just reacting to that, should we be looking forward? And what else could they do? They could do so much. I mean, I worry that the next several decades might look like a Hunger Games for liberal constitutional democracy. So, after abortion, I think they are likely to come after contraception.
Starting point is 00:23:50 I think they're likely to come after what remains of the Voting Rights Act. I think they are likely to come after what remains of campaign finance regulation. And so, I think that they are in a position to really undo a lot of what is foundational and important about our current democracy. We're going to talk about what we can do eventually, but I want to keep digging into this and some
Starting point is 00:24:15 of the bleakness that exists. And you talk about that in the book. I feel like that's maybe a struggle you've had as an author is like, I have to share with you the bleak shit. And we'll talk about later maybe what we can do. Let's talk a little about the 303 creative case. And that was something that you illuminate really well. And I think all of us could use a resummary
Starting point is 00:24:38 of what exactly happened there and how that case was almost manufactured to get a result that they wanted. Yes, so this is a super wild case where the justices basically feel entitled to create a bunch of rules and indeed to make up cases so the case really went back to a Berg fell versus Hodges which was the marriage equality decision that invalidated laws that prohibited marriage
Starting point is 00:25:03 licenses for same-sex couples and in that that case, Justices Alito and Thomas and the other Republican appointees threw a hissy fit about how marriage equality was so unfair to people who didn't think that gays and lesbians should be able to get married. You know, Justice Alito said it would facilitate the marginalization of people with traditional views about marriage and even said it called to mind the harsh treatment
Starting point is 00:25:26 of gays and lesbians in the past, as if marriage equality was, like, the same thing as not allowing gays and lesbians to get married. But anyways, so, in that case, they said, marriage equality is going to facilitate First Amendment violations of those with traditional views about marriage, and so when the justices announced that, they are basically inviting people
Starting point is 00:25:47 to file First Amendment challenges to civil rights protections for the LGBT community. And that's what happened in 303 Creative. There you had this organization, the Alliance Defending Freedom, get involved in this case where they found a website designer that became a wedding website designer that then became a religious wedding website designer
Starting point is 00:26:07 who then all of a sudden was very afraid she was going to have to make a wedding website celebrating same-sex weddings. And so that was the case that kind of was sort of before the Supreme Court, even though she hadn't actually been asked to design a website for a same-sex couple. But why decide the case in front of you
Starting point is 00:26:26 when you can just play a little fantasy football? And so in that case, the justices just declared that, well, obviously refusing to make a wedding website for a same-sex couple, that's not discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Right, okay. I can explain that if you want explain. But...
Starting point is 00:26:48 I stopped listening, like, six minutes ago. No, no, no. That's not true. That's not true. Well, no, but, I mean, this is the challenge of the subject you're in. Yes. This... We, as Americans, can't tune out. Right. We have to be paying attention. And you said fantasy football,
Starting point is 00:27:03 and I thought, did I make my trades this week? Well, if we could trade some Supreme Court justices, that would be great. That would be great. So, yeah, let's do that. Supreme Court. Let's do that. Um, what level of justice do we lose
Starting point is 00:27:19 if we're artificially manufacturing cases? Um, I think we lose all justice whatsoever, because in that case, the justices just declared that some set of people have a right to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. But we don't know what set of people that is because the case involved an imaginary wedding website designer.
Starting point is 00:27:41 And so we don't know exactly what group of people now has you know all of their prejudices protected by the Constitution and so that case has created this spillover or now a bunch of people are asserting the right to discriminate right. Let's switch gears for a second talk about the code of ethics that either does or does not exist within the Supreme Court, I mean some crazy stuff coming out with Clarence Thomas flying on private jets and yachts and having an RV, a $19,000 Bible owned by Frederick Douglass, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh
Starting point is 00:28:16 were paid $30,000 to teach a two-week course. Over and over there's all of these things. What exactly is the code of ethics for the Supreme Court? Do they have one? It's a code of, like, non-ethics. So they don't really have an actual code of ethics. They wrote something about themselves. They wrote a non-binding guidance document
Starting point is 00:28:39 and then wanted a big party to be thrown for them because they fixed the entire problem. But then not all of them even abide by that non-binding set of principles. So basically they just kind of do whatever they want and they feel pretty entitled to be kept men. And so... This is like what I said in high school that mom and dad I think I should be in charge of my curfew. Right. They just get to make up the rules that apply to themselves as they go along. Are the courts underneath the Supreme Court,
Starting point is 00:29:11 is it the same for those courts? No. Those courts actually have some rules that can be enforced against them. But when you're a Supreme Court justice, they just apparently let you do it, as someone once said, kind of. You were a clerk at the Supreme Court. I was.
Starting point is 00:29:31 I always assumed, as an American, that this was kind of... they were the adults in the room, that this is where things finally ended and justice was served. Right or wrong? What's it like in there? I think I know how you're going to answer. Part of the goal of the book is to socialize people
Starting point is 00:29:50 in a different picture of the Supreme Court. And we have a guy taking a literal chainsaw to the federal government in electoral politics. But he's not in the Supreme Court, correct? Well, but here's the thing. He's allegedly doing so on like bladder-damaging levels of ketamine. They're doing it stone cold sober.
Starting point is 00:30:10 They are just saying you can't have the Clean Power Plan because there's a debate about climate regulation. You can't have student debt relief because that would be like the French Revolution. And it triggers me. You can't have the Voting Rights Act because that's too popular. And so they're doing the same thing.
Starting point is 00:30:26 It's just not getting the same kind of attention. I mean, it almost sounds like we as a society have gotten soft, but also so has our Supreme Court. I think they have gotten soft. They've also just gotten kind of lazy. Like, they're not even trying. We're in robes all day. I mean, it's kind of like... I mean, it's kind of like... They're not even trying. We're in robes all day. I mean, it's kind of like.
Starting point is 00:30:45 Yeah. Yeah. They're not even trying anymore. You know, they just declare things to be the law. They make up new made-up theories with new made-up exceptions, because why not? You know, with six Republican justices on the court, I think they feel like they have to try a little bit less,
Starting point is 00:31:03 especially with Donald Trump taking so much of the attention away from them. I respond really well to your passion and your enthusiasm and your drive. And I wonder where that comes from. Inner rage and inner pettiness is some of it. Yeah! But there's something behind that.
Starting point is 00:31:28 Yes, okay. I had a Candace Parker WNBA basketball champion on yesterday, and I feel the same energy, and I ask her the same question, but I'm curious where it comes from you. Yes, so I grew up in a family where the women in my family spoke very openly about what it was like to grow up in a world where women didn't have control over their own bodies, experienced sexual violence, had to drop out of school. And so seeing that world come back is very, makes me filled with incandescent rage, you
Starting point is 00:32:00 know, to hear that I don't get to have rights because apparently it's really hard for some men to live in a world with feminism and women's rights, which is basically what Justice Alito said when he overruled Roe versus Wade. He said, well, that case declared a losing side and a winning side. And it's like, my guy, you literally just described how cases are decided.
Starting point is 00:32:20 There is a winning side and a losing side. But I guess it's illegal when women win! Well, one of... It's illegal when women win! Well, one of... It's really fun watching you talk shit to Justice Alito. Listen to it and read about it. Um... All right. All right. Hey, Sam.
Starting point is 00:32:36 Uh... I want to try to steer this in a positive and somewhat solution-based conclusion. What can we do? I mean one of the things you talk about in the conclusion is just start talking about this. When you go to the dog park don't be afraid to share with people that you think the Supreme Court isn't working right now. What else can we do? Yeah so I do think public information and education is a big part of this. I don't think that the Democratic Party is going to lead on this. So I think we need to build a movement of people
Starting point is 00:33:10 who understand what the Supreme Court is and how it has changed and how it is changing the country. More concretely, you know, I actually believe in the power of talking shit and memes. That's part of why I'm here. But no, like seriously, these guys are so triggered when they're criticized, and Elon Musk was basically shamed and name-called out of the federal government.
Starting point is 00:33:35 So sometimes that stuff works, and I feel like we should try it here too. Great. Wallace is available now. Leah Lippman, we'll be right back after this. That's our show for tonight. Now here it is, your moment of zen. Let's go back to this Musk Trump thing. This is a bromance that appears to Brad Pitt. Let's go back to this Musk Trump thing. This is a bromance that appears to perhaps be buckling a bit.
Starting point is 00:34:11 This bromance seems to be coming to a bit of an end. Could it be? Could the bromance be over? A bromance turned a bro off? Is the bromance over now, politically speaking? I think the, probably the fun candlelight dinner part of the bromance is over, but they're still friends. Explore more shows from The Daily Show Podcast universe by searching The Daily Show wherever
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