Radiolab More Perfect

September 18, 2017

When Chief Justice Earl Warren was asked at the end of his career, “What was the most important case of your tenure?”, there were a lot of answers he could have given. After all, he had presided over some of the most important decisions in the court’s history — cases that dealt with segregation in schools, the right to an attorney, the right to remain silent, just to name a few. But his answer was a surprise: he said, “Baker v. Carr,” a 1962 redistricting case.

On this episode of More Perfect, we talk about why this case was so important; important enough, in fact, that it pushed one Supreme Court justice to a nervous breakdown, brought a boiling feud to a head, put one justice in the hospital, and changed the course of the Supreme Court — and the nation — forever. Plus, this term, the court revisits redistricting with a case that could turn voting districts across the country upside down.

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/political-thicket-radio