A Changing Supreme Court: Politics and Polarization

The Supreme Court is charged with interpreting the U.S. Constitution and acting as a non-partisan arbiter of the law. But public pressure and the increasingly politicized process in nominating justices is changing perceptions of the court’s role. GW Professor of Political Science Brandon Bartels, author of the book Curbing the Court: Why the Public Constrains Judicial Independence, recently sat down with Paul Wahlbeck, dean of the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, to discuss today’s court, the challenges to Roe v. Wade and other pressing topics.