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Until recently, many news outlets treated the judiciary, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court, as a high-minded institution not caught up in the partisan battles dividing the rest of the country. But there has been a push to tell a different, more accurate story: The judiciary is partisan and political, too. And and the Republican Party in particular has stacked the courts with appointees who carry out its policy goals.
Balls and Strikes, which is an arm of the progressive group Demand Justice, most embodies this style. One of the site’s stories last year criticized NPR legal reporter Nina Totenberg’s close ties with then-Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia, arguing that a journalist is supposed to scrutinize those in power, not befriend them. Articles on the site have also shown the crucial role largely unknown conservative lawyers and activists play in pushing cases that result in right-wing rulings.
“Our coverage is premised on the reality that interpreting the law is an inherently political act with real-world consequences, and that a given outcome is not just or desirable or legitimate simply because a person wearing a robe managed to string together a few sentences about, ‘why the law compels it,’” said Jay Willis, the site’s editor in chief.
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