Joan Esposito is joined by Alison Gash, professor of political science at the University of Oregon, author of “Below the Radar: How Silence Can Save Civil Rights,” and contributor to Washington Monthly. She is also the president of OurSchool, “a nurturing and creative anti-racist digital space for LGBTQIA+ young people and their communities to learn, celebrate, and thrive.”

Gash offered insights on recent Supreme Court decisions, focusing in particular on Mahmoud v. Taylor, which said that parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, have the right to opt their children out of specific LGBTQ+-inclusive lessons in public schools. Gash criticized Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion, citing his misrepresentation of a children's book titled "Uncle Bobby’s Wedding."

Additionally, she addressed the negative implications of the shadow docket, where the court issues decisions without full deliberation. "It matters for the individual outcomes, but it also matters a great deal in terms of whether the public perceives the court as legitimate," Gash told WCPT. "And the more that it does this work, and particularly the more that it does this work around high-conflict questions, in secret, the less legitimate the court is going to be, the less that we can trust the outcomes, and the less likely people are going to be to comply with its decisions. So it's a real problem."

Gash also touched on the historical context of the separation of church and state and evolving interpretations of the Constitution.

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

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