Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

For critics of the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, much attention and ire is focused on the new justices appointed by President Donald Trump. But journalist Alex Wagner says the key president to note is Ronald Reagan, whose 1980 election marked a distinct right turn for American governance. Wagner, host of Crooked Media’s “Runaway Country,” says Reagan’s election marked the return to power of the conservative right after many decades on the fringes: Tax cuts, aggressive foreign policy, and law and order would soon become the cornerstones of Reagan’s agenda. But, behind the scenes, a select group of administration officials and ideological allies had their eyes set on something much more valuable: an institution with the power to shape the country’s legal, cultural and existential identity, long after any presidential term ended. Wagner says California’s own Ed Meese, an Alameda County district attorney, lawyer and aide to Reagan from his days as governor, knew exactly what he had to do to s