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Here’s How Right-Wingers Packed The Courts Well Before Trump

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Hasan, M. (2026, November 12). Here’s How Right-Wingers Packed The Courts Well Before Trump. Zeteo. https://zeteo.com/p/how-right-wingers-packed-the-courts

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Zeteo · collected 2026-11-12 · by Mehdi Hasan commentary

Quick Summary

MS NOW senior political analyst Alex Wagner discusses her new book "The Steal" in an interview, detailing how the Supreme Court's shift to the right began during the Reagan administration. Wagner highlights specific court rulings and argues for reforms such as term limits and ethics codes for judges. She also warns that President Trump could potentially seat a fourth justice during the current lame-duck session of Congress.
Written by AI on 2026-11-13, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

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Here’s How Right-Wingers Packed The Courts Well Before Trump
Other · 1 article(s) covering the same event.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
8
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 8 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
expected in commentary, which argues a position · beta estimate
Publisher signals
not measured
these signals count newsroom corrections; Commentary has none to count
Outlets on this story
1
Other
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Zeteo · 265 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
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Who wrote this

Mehdi Hasan
32 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
Senator Chris Van Hollen announced he will challenge Chuck Schumer to be majority leader in the next Congress, triggering a dramatic power struggle as Democrats prepare to take control of Capitol Hill after their midterms win.
“I would love if both of them were ousted, a hundred percent,” co-host of ‘The Majority Reports’ Emma Vigeland tells Mehdi.
During the interview, the two also discuss “habibi” J.D. Vance, who will now have to swear in El-Sayed to the Senate in January, and react to the vice president’s own provocative analysis of why Republicans were “smoked” in the midterms. “This is what happens when you rubber stamp the dumbest possible president in American history, and then this man ruins your political future, and then now, all of a sudden, you’re trying to pretend like you had nothing to do with it,” El-Sayed says.
“‘Allah put the different people on the earth not that they might despise one another, but that they might come to know one another and learn from one another.’
And will the Democrats be able to successfully sway not just independents, but former Trump voters?
If she succeeds, she will be the first woman, the first Muslim, and the first person of Palestinian descent to be appointed UN Secretary-General.
In this special, live edition of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Ramirez discusses the growing support for her bill to block weapons to Israel, whether Gaza and AIPAC will be litmus tests in the 2028 Democratic presidential primaries, and how the lobbying group’s fading influence has forced it into operating “in the shadows.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen might not be gunning for a leadership position in the Senate, but he is “kicking the tires on a 2028 national campaign,” he tells Mehdi.
The highlights include: How billionaires, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists have formed a coalition set on destruction (“They believe they are chosen and they’re going to a bunker in the sky,” Klein says) The Trump administration’s dystopian reconstruction plan for Gaza, and the ongoing genocide there How centrists like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have allowed fascism to rise The dangerous role of unregulated artificial intelligence (“AI money should be as toxic as AIPAC money,” Taylor says) How Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 New York City mayoral campaign offers a blueprint for fighting fascism. Paid subscribers can watch the full 48-minute interview in full above, without a paywall.
The author and friend of Zeteo attended the hearing to protest the county’s massive investments in Israeli bonds (the largest globally), a matter the county’s mayor, Sarah Baxter, had no appetite for.
Also by Mehdi Hasan
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 32 articles by Mehdi Hasan →

Topics

American Roe v. Wade Zeteo the Supreme Court’s the Voting Rights Act

Subjects

Wagner PERSON · 5× American NORP · 2× Trump PERSON · 2× Zeteo ORG · 2× Alex Wagner PERSON · 1× Crooked Media ORG · 1× MS NOW ORG · 1× Reagan PERSON · 1× Republican NORP · 1× the Supreme Court’s ORG · 1×

Narrative

In a new “Mehdi Unfiltered” interview, Wagner breaks down how the “outlandish dreams” of a small group of conservatives to “corrupt the courts” came to fruition, as well as what Supreme Court reforms she believes the Democratic Party should pursue. “The idea of nine berobed elders making these hugely consequential decisions for American life with no term limits and no ethics code is unconscionable,” Wagner tells Mehdi.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-13
2026-11-13 · Zeteo
Here’s How Right-Wingers Packed The Courts Well Before Trump · assertive framing

Claims (8 extracted, 0 hedged)

These rulings only scratch the surface of the Supreme Court’s continued shift to the right in just the last few years. asserted
rulings → scratch → years
But these rulings were actually decades in the making, dating all the way back to the Reagan administration when the American judiciary was changed forever. asserted
judiciary → date → administration
That’s the topic of a new book by MS NOW senior political analyst and Crooked Media host Alex Wagner, called ‘The Steal: Four Right-Wing Hard-Liners, One Republican Presidency, and the Raid on America’s Courts.’ asserted
That → ’ → Courts
In a new “Mehdi Unfiltered” interview, Wagner breaks down how the “outlandish dreams” of a small group of conservatives to “corrupt the courts” came to fruition, as well as what Supreme Court reforms she believes the Democratic Party should pursue. “The idea of nine berobed elders making these hugely consequential decisions for American life with no term limits and no ethics code is unconscionable,” Wagner tells Mehdi. asserted
Wagner → break → Mehdi
Wagner also expresses her concerns about the current lame duck session of Congress, and whether a last-ditch effort can be made for Trump to seat a fourth justice on the Supreme Court. asserted
Trump → express → Court
“The only thing standing in the way of another Trump nomination is Sam Alito’s ego, which is a powerful thing,” Wagner warns. asserted
Wagner → stand → nomination
Paid subscribers can watch the full interview above without a paywall, while free subscribers can access a 2-minute preview. asserted
subscribers → watch → preview
And if you’ve already read it, feel free to share your review of the book in the comments below! asserted
you → read → comments
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