RADIOMay 04, 2022

WHAT'S NEXT: Could packing the Supreme Court END America?

Thanks to the recent leak of a drafted Roe v Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court likely will ‘never be the same,’ Kelly Shackelford tells Glenn. ‘I just think it’s going to damage the court permanently,’ the President & CEO of First Liberty Institute explains. ‘We’ve crossed that Rubicon now.’ So, with a ‘damaged’ court, what comes next? Well the left already is pushing to pack the Supreme Court — something Shackelford says could be the END of America as we know it: ‘When [court packing] happens, that first time, you’re done. You’re tyranny.’

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Mr. Kelly Shackelford from First Liberty. How are you, sir?

KELLY: Great, Glenn. It's great to be you with you.

GLENN: First of all, is it illegal to leak this document?

KELLY: I'm not aware of any criminal violation.

GLENN: Okay.

KELLY: Obviously, it's -- it's a really, it's an attack upon the institution of the court. And I don't know if people understand. I mean, the court will never be the same.

I don't know what they're going to have to do now, but the ability of all the justices to have -- these are some of the brightest young attorneys in the country. They bring in new ones.

And the ability just with your own clerks. The opinions you're working on.

I mean, I just think it's going to damage the court permanently. And there's a reason why this has been never happened.

And it's -- we've crossed that Rubicon now. And the court will never be the same.

GLENN: I'm not sure it will change forever, if they put the hammer down on anything that was involved. Wouldn't that send a strong enough message to bring it back?

KELLY: I hope. I mean, number one, are they going to figure out, who it is? I think it's highly likely to be one of the 12 clerks, or the three liberal justices.

I mean, you know, what if, God forbid, it ended up being involved with the justice.

I mean, to me, I think that's impeachable. I just think that people don't understand the -- this is why sort of shooting a rocket, at the Supreme Court, is -- it is something that could -- that we might not return from, as far as the court being able to be what it is.

Which is the ability for justices. I don't know if people know this, Glenn. But what happens is, there's a majority a a dissent. And they voted, just a few days after the argument. They vote. And they start to write on the opinion. The majority writes there. And they share votes.

And people end up being convinced. This is the marketplace of ideas in a different way. It's very important. They want to know what the law is. What does the law really say?

Oh, my gosh. I didn't really think of that. And people switch.

And there's lots to that, that's happened. Where people go to a concurrence, or a consent, or a consent to the majority. And if you can't share the opinions and have that discussion, without people, you know, taking what's being written and taking it out in public, to try to use it as a political tool. I mean, you just destroyed the internal deliberation, going on, and the exchange of ideas.

It's a really horrible thing, what this person did.

GLENN: What about -- what about the idea that it might have been a conservative clerical, that thought maybe they're going to switch to the other side. This will lock them into position.

KELLY: It doesn't make sense on a lot of levels. I understand people think it's really, really cute. Because it locks them in.

Number one, the whole point is that conservatives don't do that. Conservative justices actually restrain themselves -- and no matter what I believe, I'm going to follow what works. What is the original meaning?

The whole philosophy of those people, is not just warp the court into what they want it to be. That's a liberal approach.

GLENN: Right. And that is clear in this -- in this ruling. I mean, that is mentioned several times. That we're not a political body. We can't acquiesce. We have no idea what this is going to do with the American people. But we can't care about that. We have to do what our job is.

And that is to interpret the law against the Constitution.

VOICE: And here's the thing about that, Glenn. Nobody talks about that.

This is a deal. Talk about populism. This is a massive return of power to the people. And away from a few oligarchs who control everything. In a darkroom in the Supreme Court. They weren't supposed to.

It's not the Constitution.

So this is a huge return of power, to people, at the United States. To make their decision, to decide what they think is right or wrong. And not have just a handful of people, tell them what morality is. So it's not talked about that way. But it really should be. This is what the Founders meant.

GLENN: It really is incredible. Because I saw signs last night. Power belongs to the people. And they were protesting. No. That's -- that's what this document says! Now, can -- can this go to -- we know it can now go back to states, as it should be. And they can vote and do whatever they want.

Does this -- can this also just go back to Congress, and have a federal law?

KELLY: They can. They can, if they can pass it. Because, again, the Constitution doesn't speak to it, and therefore it's up to the people. So they can pass a law. But they would -- they would have to do one of two things. They would have to -- you know, in the Senate, get 60 votes. In order to -- it's called filibuster. It's really cloture. They can either get 60 votes. Which they will not be able to do. Or they can destroy the filibuster. And that will be a permanent damaging of the Senate. I mean, the last time they didn't have a filibuster was before Thomas Edison. You know, invented the lightbulb.

So we're talking about. This would be -- change the Senate forever.

Because the reason the Senate is considered probably the most well-known deliberative body in the world. Is because you can't just pass it with raw political power. You have to get some consensus of the other side.

It takes that 60 votes. And it slows things down.

So you only have one party taking over, flipping the country, one major direction to the other. The Senate kind of stops that and makes there be some consensus.

If you take -- if you destroy the filibuster, we're going to see court packing. We're going to see Puerto Rico becoming a state. DC. I mean, we're not going to recognize our country.

I think I've mentioned this before, with your audience, even, Glenn. But if people don't understand -- once you do court packing once, your country is over.

So this is the kind of stuff that would happen, if they do get rid of the filibuster, as Bernie Sanders and others are advocating today. Because they know they'll have to do that, if they're going to push through a new law. A new Roe v. Wade by federal mandate.

GLENN: And is court packing just one justice? Or does there have to be several? I don't know who would go five to five.

KELLY: It's four. They already filed a bill to add four justices to the Supreme Court.

So it would add four. Which would then make the liberals have the majority. And they would just start doing whatever -- basically, like a super legislature. But the problem is within once you do it, the court is over. It's just a subsidiary of the majority party in power. And there's no rule of law anymore. And you don't have any rights anymore. You have whatever right the majority party wishes for you to keep, and that's why --

GLENN: And you never really go back.

KELLY: You don't. You look at -- and people wonder what happened to Venezuela. That's what happened.

Argentina. We can go through lots of countries. People don't understand. But when it happens, that first time, you're done. You're tyranny.

And really, a dictatorship is where you go. So it's something they tried in 1936, '37. FDR did. Because he did not like the fact that they were not getting his new deal through. But even his own party turned against him, before it was over.

And said, this is tyranny. We're not going to do this in this country, and it failed.

But it's very dangerous. And it's something they can only do. If they destroyed the filibuster, which would be what they had to do to pass a Roe v. Wade in federal statute.

GLENN: So that is the thing that, you know -- you know, I'm looking at here.

I'm not sure they released this to do anything, but to pour fuel on the fire, right now.

Why wait until summer? Power fuel on the fire right now. To get court packing done. And the end of a filibuster. I think it has more to do with that, than the judgment from the court. Would you agree?

I think it's both. Probably. They're hoping that they can intimidate one of the justices. This is the beginning of what I've been predicting for months. I think we were just together recently.

And I said, this is coming in June. When these decisions start coming down.

And I think they're going to go for court packing in a frenzy. I think this is going to be their new election approach. Because they obviously are not working well under the current polling, and et cetera.

And I think this is going to be their attempt. And we're seeing just a sort of release of that. In addition to, I hope they can intimidate one of the five justices, that supposedly are on this opinion.

It only says Alito, but, again, part of the leak was that four other justices, not the chief. But four of the other with them. So my hope, is that they can pick off a Kavanaugh, or a Barrett, who will lose their nerve. I don't think that will happen. I think this would entrench them even more. It will just destroy. Everybody would know that they changed their -- their principled opinion, because of pressure.

So I don't think that's going to happen. So I agree with you. Long-term, this is their strategy, and this is what they're going to do.

GLENN: Kelly, can you hang on for just a second?

I want to talk to you about the other cases that are coming up in June, and the impact that they will have.

We will do that in 60 seconds.

GLENN: Kelly Shackelford is on the board of trustees of the United States Supreme Court historical society.

He's earned his law degree from Baylor University.

And he's also the president and CEO of First Liberty Institute.

If you are thinking about donating money to any cause, I can highly recommend First Liberty Institute. They can use your money, and they are winning and actually leaving permanent marks.

It's FirstLiberty.org. So, Kelly, we have been in front of the Supreme Court. We were talking. And you said to me, we're probably more free. By the end of the summer, we will be more free, religiously speaking, than we have been in our lifetime.

You also said, because of Roe vs. Wade, and the other opinions that you think are coming down the pike, that the left is going to lose their mind. What are the other cases?

Well, obviously you've got Dobbs. Which is the Roe v. wade, which we're now seeing the precursors too. And, by the way, the way this works, is the court issues all of its opinions by June, because the session will end. And they will mostly leave the country and speak and teach and stuff. Other places. So the opinions are out by the end of June. You would expect Dobbs to be issued that last week, probably.

GLENN: Hang on. Let me ask you a question. Why don't they just finish it now, and make it official?

KELLY: They might. They might. I don't know how far along they are. Because what we saw was an early draft. But if I'm the chief, I think I might move it along now. And say, we'll get this out quickly. So all this nonsense will stop. But it normally will be late. But in addition to Dobbs. You've got a Second Amendment case, which will be -- I think in favor of the Second Amendment. And against the New York restrictions. On guns.

GLENN: Which will do -- which will do what?

KELLY: It will just bolster the Second Amendment, and say that these types of restrictions are unconstitutional. Because there is a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. And this violates that fundamental right. I think you're going to get that kind of -- I think we're going to -- we argue it's a major school choice decision in September. And, you know, it's expected, the way the argument thing. That we're going to win that case.

GLENN: Which would mean, what?

KELLY: Which means any time, there's any school choice program, anywhere in the country, you cannot exclude religious schools or religious choices from the parents.

And that will make clear, that school choice has to be fair. And that everywhere it's going on. And there's a lot of programs out there. The exclusion of the religious schools is over. And so at a -- that will cause a lot of religious schools to come into being, because now there will be resources, that the parents have to choose what they think is best for their kids.

So that will be a big decision. Because the Kennedy case, which we just argued a week ago, Monday. That's a huge case. And it looks like, it's going to be even bigger than expected. Depending upon how they write the opinion.

Again, this is a coach. She was fired for going to a knee after the game, to say a 20-second prayer, thanking God for the privilege to coach the young men, he coached. It's the first time the court has ever had a case, on the free exercise. Or religious freedom rights, of a teacher. A coach. Anyone. So there's never been a decision on this. So it will affect a lot of people that way. But what people didn't expect. During the oral argument within the court the bottom into a discussion about possibly ending the Lemon case. Which has been around for 50 years. And if people wonder why our whole lives, we've seen attacks on nativity scenes, and menorahs, and veterans memorials with religious symbols. And Ten Commandments monuments, and all that.

It's not because the Founders said anything about that. It's because of this really bad case 50 years ago. And it's been the weapon of choice. For secularists now. For 50 years. To wipe our society clean of religion. And it's pretty clear that maybe a majority of the justices are about to say, that's over. And that's a sea change. If that happens as well.

GLENN: Jeez.

KELLY: So those are just a handful. And there's some others as well.

Finance. There's the border case that was argued this last week. So all this stuff is coming down, at the end of June. And my guess is, the Marxist left is not going to like these things.

GLENN: It is amazing to me, as -- as we are traveling down this road, where the country seems -- the government seems to be going in entirely the wrong direction.

And you're kind of losing hope.

That the Supreme Court now rides in, and is doing remarkable things, that, quite honestly, I think would find favor in the eyes of good. It's -- I mean, hopefully it buys us some time.

KELLY: Yeah. And, you know, what it's doing -- is these justices aren't themselves. Politicians. They don't go one way or another. But they're going back to the original meaning of the texts of the Constitution. Which takes us to our founding.

GLENN: Yeah.

Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of First Liberty Institute. You can find it and donate at FirstLiberty.org.

I highly recommend that. That's the thing about constitutional judges, it doesn't always cut your way. Because it's all about freedom, and rule of law.

The UNREPORTED reason why Trump is targeting Venezuela

A few weeks ago, President Trump moved a battle group to Latin America. Now, with the bombing of a Venezuelan cartel drug smuggling boat, we’ve seen what part of its mission may be. But Glenn Beck lays out an unreported second reason that Trump is drawing these battle lines: Venezuela has become a literal “beachhead” for enemies of America, like China, Hezbollah, and Iran.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I want to talk to you about something that is right on our door step, that I don't think a lot of people are watching. I think it was Sunday. Saturday or Sunday. I read an article. And I just kind of skimmed it quickly.

And I filed it away.

And it was the United States is moving like a battle group, to Latin America. And I'm like, what? We're moving a battle group? What are we -- what -- we're losing.

We're moving cruise missiles, ships, like 4,000 Marines. I mean, this is what you have, when you have an invading force. You know, when you're worried about something, you want to keep calm in some area. You know, we sent them over, off the coast of Africa. Because there's somebody doing something.

And we sent this group over.

Like, hey. Knock it off. What are we doing?

Okay. Well, it's not just to Latin America. It's some place very specific: Venezuela.

What's happening now is not some distant strong man. This is -- battle lines are being drawn right now, between freedom and chaos. Okay?

This week, Nicholas Maduro, who was indicted by the Trump administration. I think in 2020. And then Biden didn't do anything about it. He was indicted by our own justice department for narco terrorism.

He just responded to us. And mobilized four and a half million civilian militiamen. So he's now just kind of drafting 4 million men, and said, you're -- you're a citizen, but you're also a soldier right now.

And he says, it's to defend sovereignty against America.

Here's what it is: He's trying to protect himself.

He's a dictator. And he's conscripting an entire had a nation. Because he knows, the United States is after him. Why?

Why?

Well, we have warships, three ageist destroyers, and they're anchored right off his coast. And we just doubled the on bounty on his head, from $25 million to $50 million.

And, you know, you -- at first blush, you're like, can we?

What are we doing? What? What's happening?

We've lived in a time, my whole life, where we're like, you know, the government can do two things at one place.

It should be able to walk and chew gum. Well, we're not just walking and chewing gum. We're walking, chewing gum, putting out the fire of a burning house. Juggling flaming bowling pins. Stopping a nuclear war.

Dancing the Macarena, because everybody in Washington, DC, is like 8,000 years old. We're building a death bot army at the same time, fighting people that want to behead us. Oh, and the Islamists, and redistricting Texas. And we're doing it all at the same time.

Why? I mean, we're living Mission Impossible, except our Tom Cruise is 78 years old. Which, I want you to think about this.

I think Donald Trump is exactly who Tom Cruise will be when he's 78. Just not -- he's still running that weird run that he's doing. Anyway, so Donald Trump is going after Venezuela for two reasons. One, drums. Fentanyl and cocaine, much of it laced, much of it deadly. And it is -- it is being trafficked here in the United States, by people who are directly tied to Maduro's government.

And it's the so-called cartel of the suns. MS-13 gang members. All of this stuff is coming from Venezuela.

And they are poisoning Americans. And this is not just a foreign, you know -- you know, a foreign security thing. Or a foreign policy issue.

This is -- this is Homeland Security. This is actually affecting us.

The second one, and I think this is the bigger reason of the two. I mean, they're probably tied. But this is a big one that most Americans don't know. Venezuela is not some backwater place. It's full of oil.

And it is a staging ground now for Russia, China, and Iran.

Hezbollah, it has some of the worst people. It's a beachhead, for those people who want to see the United States taken down.

JASON: Oh, Glenn. Literally, a beachhead. This is insane because I didn't even know a lot of this. We mentioned this maybe a couple of months ago.

GLENN: Yeah, we did -- we did -- it was part of another story.

JASON: The Tren de Aragua stuff.

GLENN: Yeah. Wait a minute. What is Hezbollah doing in Venezuela?

JASON: Oh, my gosh. So I actually did you go through congressional testimony, to get some of this information now. Now, this is information that the American public doesn't really know, but the government knows.

So check this out. This is from congressional testimony. In 2011, they tested -- Congress testified what Hugo Chavez was doing.

Listen to this. Just the year before, 2010, Hugo Chavez hosted something called the Secret Summit. Like literally, it was called the Secret Summit.

GLENN: Okay.

JASON: Guess who showed up to the Secret Summit. The supreme leader of Hamas. The Chief of Operations for Hezbollah, and the Secretary General of Palestinian Islamic jihad.

GLENN: Oh, I thought you were going to say Satan.

JASON: I might as well have. I mean, this is absolutely nuts.

GLENN: Nobody was talking about that. How can that happen right off our shore? Nobody is talking about it.

JASON: Glenn, it gets so much worse than that, if it can.

So Iranians right now, with connections to Hezbollah, are on an island off the coast of Venezuela. It's called Margarita Island. Everybody should Google us right now, and check it out.

GLENN: Is Jimmy Buffett involved?

JASON: He's -- Jimmy Buffett would be nowhere near this.

GLENN: All right. The whole world is about to crash.

JASON: Yeah, it's not 5 o'clock anywhere on this Margarita Island.

These are some of the things they're doing here, okay?

Again, with the involvement of the -- of the Venezuelan government. They are, quote, running money laundering operations, establishing -- excuse me. Paramilitary training centers.

They are recruiting Venezuelan gangs. And listen to this: Sending those people -- this is like Tren de Aragua. Sending them to Iran for follow-on training.

GLENN: Jeez.

JASON: This is happening right now. Our government knows about this. This is the only time I've actually seen them do anything concrete to combat it.

GLENN: They've known about it since 2010. Known about it since 2010.

You didn't know that. Nobody is saying that. When -- you know, we've -- we've argued that Venezuela and communism. And, you know, they were eating the zoo animals.

That's what happens, gang.

When you go communist. And full-on democracy. They wanted full-on democracy. And that's what you get. You know, hello, Maduro.

So when Maduro took over, he was kind of the Mamdani, if you will of -- of Venezuela. He's just a simple bus driver. Uh-huh.

And look what -- look what he's done.

That's the part we've heard about.

Then when the border crisis happened. We started hearing about, oh, well, they're sending gangs in. And they're sending -- they're sending fentanyl and everything else in.

We still are not talking about their connections to Iran and Hezbollah. And how they have been training people. And sending them here!

This is really not good.

So Donald Trump clearly knows all of this stuff.

And that's why he's offered $50 million. For anybody that will turn him in.

Or can tip us off to lead to the capture.

And now, the reason we're doing that. You've got to remember. We've done this before.

Noriega. Was a guy who was a drug lord.

And he was running a country. And so we've got to get him. And we finally did get Noriega. And he went to prison for what he did.

But the other times we've done that, Saddam Hussein, and even worse Muammar Gaddafi, that was a Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama nightmare.

And they drug his body through the streets.
Because we assisted the collapse. And it became a vacuum!

And now, Libya is just a nightmare.

Just a nightmare.

So was Iraq. We can't let that happen to Venezuela.

So we have to be very careful. You can't just say, go get them. We have to be very careful.

Unless the people themselves rise up against Maduro. Unless the people themselves do it, this is going to be -- this is going to be a tough one.

But we have to stop pretending, that this is somebody else's problem.

Because it is our problem. It really is our problem. Those people are already here. And we are also -- you know, this is one of the reasons insular like it, when people blame their problems on others.

I'm an alcoholic.

Now, everybody says, well, that -- that's a familial thing. That runs in your genes. I don't know. I don't think they've ever found that. There's no evidence of that. But you make a good case. I mean, we're riddled with alcoholism in my family. So, yeah. Maybe! Maybe! But I'm the one who makes the choice. Okay?

Yeah. Maybe I have that extra gene that's working against me. Maybe! But I went in to the bar. I went in to the store and bought the booze.

So we -- we have to start taking responsibility for some of our problems. It's easy to say, Venezuela is shipping all this fentanyl into the United States.

We have to recognize that Americans are buying it. Now, there's one thing to say about addiction. Once you start buying it, then you're addicted to it. And it is a nightmare.

I mean, the first time I had fentanyl, I -- I wake up. I've woken up on the operating table, two times.

They cannot keep me down. My body just processes stuff like, so fast. It's a fast, high-functioning liver.

And I was in pain. You might remember this, if you've listened to me, for a long time.

I was in New York. And they put me under. And then they -- I got out. And they were giving me morphine. I think Percocet.

And fentanyl patches. And my doctor after said, why would you let somebody do this to you?

And I was like, well, I was a little high.

And my wife didn't know.

We listened to the doctor. That's when we really learned: Don't listen to the doctor. Yeah, they don't always know.

But they had good intent. They were just trying to keep me out of pain.

But the box. Fentanyl.

I don't know if it still does.

If you get a box of fentanyl from the drugstore.

It says, black box, warning for end of life use only. Why?

Because it is so incredibly addicting.
You take it for a day or two, and you're done. You're addicted to it.

So addiction is one thing that we have to deal with.

But we also have to say, Americans are buying this stuff!

We have to change our culture, and start prosecuting people who are buying this stuff.

And treating those who are addicted to it, and understanding with compassion. Yada, yada, yada.

But we have to also -- if you're selling drugs, you're involved in selling drugs, you should have a very, very long sentence. Very long sentence.

You know, don't tell Donald Trump this. But, you know, China does not have a drug problem.

Because if you sell drugs, you're executed. I don't even think you get a trial. They just kill you.

Let's not tell Donald Trump that, because he might like that idea.

But fix it quickly.

Fix it quickly.

But we -- we have to take responsibility ourself. We have to be resilient as people. In our communities.

We have to have strong families.

We have to have citizenry, that knows the difference between liberty and tyranny. We have to understand that freedom does not come when you're on drugs.

It doesn't. That is the worst tyranny. You're a pharmaceutical tyranny.

You are -- air slave to whatever it is, that you're putting into your body. That's the real battle.

But there is another one off our shore. That could -- what do you think is going to happen, Jason?

Because this is a significant battle group, isn't it?

JASON: It's significant. I mean, including 4,000 Marines. I was on a battle group like that, where this is the same kind. Where we would go and sit off the coast of a Middle Eastern country.

GLENN: Yeah. Weren't you off the coast of Australia? You were one of the first in after 911.

JASON: Yeah. Yeah. In one of these battle groups, doing exercises in Australia. We got the call and went straight to Afghanistan right after that.

So this is like the firepower that could do that. So it's very intimidating. I would assume that is the reason for this. I don't think they will be doing actual -- you know, conflict-type kinetic stuff.

But I bet that it's just supposed to mean -- it's supposed to be intimidating. I'm curious if it's supposed to lend some support to maybe some of the, you know, ground people in Venezuela.

To finally tell them, look, we've got your back. If you want to, you know, do something about this, and finally take your country back. Now would be the time.

GLENN: Yeah, maybe we would be a peacekeeper. You know, maybe we would be a peace-keeping force.

Uncovering the secret funders of gender ideology

Who is really funding the sudden cultural obsession with gender ideology? Glenn Beck uncovers the hidden networks of billionaires, nonprofits, and global organizations fueling the transgender movement and reshaping society at every level—from schools and corporations to government and even the United Nations. This is not a grassroots movement; it is a coordinated and well-funded campaign to dismantle the foundations of family, faith, and freedom. The deeper you follow the money, the clearer the picture becomes: powerful elites are weaponizing gender ideology to silence dissent and control culture. In this episode, Glenn exposes the truth the media won’t touch and explains why every American needs to understand what’s at stake.

Watch This FULL Episode of 'Glenn TV' HERE

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Epstein's Former Lawyer REVEALS The Inside Deal that was Made

Glenn Beck sits down with Alan Dershowitz, Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer, to dive into the explosive controversy surrounding the Epstein list and the unanswered questions the public still demands. Dershowitz reveals why the narrative around Epstein has been twisted, why there may never be a “client list” as people imagine, and why he believes every single document must be released. From shocking accusations, false claims, and media manipulation to the deeper truth about who knew what, this conversation pulls no punches. Is the public finally ready to see everything?

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Alan Dershowitz HERE

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Glenn Beck and Max Lucado discuss end times

Glenn Beck sits down with pastor and author Max Lucado to break down the shocking signs of prophecy that seem to be unfolding right before our eyes. From global deception, political turmoil, and persecution of Christians to the rise of immorality and cultural chaos, the warnings Jesus gave in the Olivet Discourse sound eerily similar to today’s headlines. Max Lucado explains the “super sign” that marks the beginning of the end, why the darkness seems to be growing stronger, and how believers should respond with faith and hope rather than fear. This is a sobering yet encouraging reminder to stay awake, stay faithful, and recognize the times in which we live.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Max Lucado HERE