"Is the Supreme Court Eating Itself?" Nina Totenberg on the Shadow Docket, Polarization, and American Civility

In this video episode of *How Our Constitution Works… And Why It Doesn’t*, co-hosts Will Cooper and Edward Larson sit down with legendary legal correspondent Nina Totenberg. The conversation dives into the structural and cultural friction points in modern American democracy, exploring how societal polarization, the collapse of public discourse, and the dramatic expansion of the Supreme Court's emergency docket—commonly known as the "shadow docket"—are reshaping the rule of law. Totenberg offers candid observations on the shift toward a 6–3 conservative majority, the historical origin of religious monuments in public spaces, and why the breakdown of civil restraint poses a direct challenge to the constitutional order. DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY. will-cooper.com