Aug 13, 2026 · 1 hr 35 min · 12 segments
From striking down President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs to undoing core pillars of the Voting Rights Act, the US Supreme Court docket this year has already made history. Some of the most consequential…
Chas LicciardelloGuest
Harry MelkonianGuest
Hayley ChannerHost
First of all, before I answer that question, can I just say in your intro, you said, has there ever been a more divisive time in the Supreme Court and a time where there was much diversity of cases? Diversity of cases, I'll give you.
Divisive, well, back before the Civil War, there was a case which ruled that slaves had no rights whatsoever as human beings.
But to answer your question about what is the Supreme Court and why is it so controversial? Okay, well, the Supreme Court is very similar in a lot of ways to the High Court in Australia in that they are the ultimate arbiters of what the Constitution means, what people can do under the Constitution, which is similar to the High Court in Australia.
Also, they're the ultimate court of appeal in America, generally speaking, which is also similar to the High Court in Australia.
There are two... major differences between the way the High Court functions in Australia and I think the way the Supreme Court functions in America.
One is that the American Constitution is written more for a normal person to understand.
The American Constitution is written more for a normal person to understand.
But what that means is There's a lot more potential for creative lawyering going on with the American Constitution because what exactly does it mean? What exactly does the First Amendment mean and the Second Amendment mean and so forth? There's a lot of opportunity for mischief.
The second difference is that America as a whole is much more political than Australia, and that includes the legal fraternity, which means there's a lot more people out there trying to take advantage of of the loopholes and the potential shading that you can put on the Constitution to push their political barrow.
The Supreme Court in America is a much more political institution than the High Court in Australia because the questions that come before them are much more political questions.
And so that's the easy answer of the difference between the American Supreme Court and the Australian High Court.
But I give one more quick answer for the real thing that the Supreme Court does.
The real thing it does in 2026 is the American system is designed so that not much happens without Congress.
The president has very limited rights without Congress helping them in legislation.
First of all, before I answer that question, can I just say in your intro, you said, has there ever been a more divisive time in the Supreme Court and a time where there was much diversity of cases? Diversity of cases, I'll give you.
Divisive, well, back before the Civil War, there was a case which ruled that slaves had no rights whatsoever as human beings.
But to answer your question about what is the Supreme Court and why is it so controversial? Okay, well, the Supreme Court is very similar in a lot of ways to the High Court in Australia in that they are the ultimate arbiters of what the Constitution means, what people can do under the Constitution, which is similar to the High Court in Australia.
Also, they're the ultimate court of appeal in America, generally speaking, which is also similar to the High Court in Australia.
There are two... major differences between the way the High Court functions in Australia and I think the way the Supreme Court functions in America.
One is that the American Constitution is written more for a normal person to understand.
The American Constitution is written more for a normal person to understand.
But what that means is There's a lot more potential for creative lawyering going on with the American Constitution because what exactly does it mean? What exactly does the First Amendment mean and the Second Amendment mean and so forth? There's a lot of opportunity for mischief.
The second difference is that America as a whole is much more political than Australia, and that includes the legal fraternity, which means there's a lot more people out there trying to take advantage of of the loopholes and the potential shading that you can put on the Constitution to push their political barrow.
The Supreme Court in America is a much more political institution than the High Court in Australia because the questions that come before them are much more political questions.
And so that's the easy answer of the difference between the American Supreme Court and the Australian High Court.
But I give one more quick answer for the real thing that the Supreme Court does.
The real thing it does in 2026 is the American system is designed so that not much happens without Congress.
The president has very limited rights without Congress helping them in legislation.
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