(uplifting music) (pensive music) - Welcome to "The Newsfeed."

In today's episode, the United States Supreme Court decides on cases that impact millions of Americans.

The controversial actions by justices made them the center of attention for a session during the "Cascade PBS Ideas Festival."

Plus, some college campuses in Washington are offering formerly incarcerated students new resources and guidance to try to help them succeed in school.

I'm Paris Jackson, today's top story, the highest court in the nation, the US Supreme Court, was a subject of discussion and a comedic roasting during a spirited conversation at the "Cascade PBS Ideas Festival."

New York Times bestselling author Lindy West, democracy policy expert Meagan Hatcher-Mays, and comedian Guy Branum don't mince words about the nine justices who make significant decisions about our lives with nearly no parameters.

Here's a preview.

- Well, and it's not like the Dobbs decision has some sort of language in it that makes you say like, "Oh."

- [Meagan] What a brilliant minds.

- Like they've misconstrued this in some sort of way.

It was just like, "We have the votes to do this.

We're going to do this."

- And they're insulated from any sort of consequence, right?

- Yeah.

- We don't elect Supreme Court justices, so they're like, "Well..." Like I was kind of joking about this before, they used to be a little bit more subtle in the way that they would take away rights, and they would move a lot more slowly.

They would start to slowly erode people's rights.

And this was true about abortion over time.

Like it's not just like they... Dobbs didn't come out of nowhere.

There was this case in 1992, Casey, that was sort of like, "Well, we're just gonna dip a toe in putting restrictions on abortion access," and that sets them up to be able to take them away wholesale.

But like John Roberts loves to go slower.

He doesn't want any of you paying attention to his little sneaky, nefarious deeds that he wants to achieve.

He wants to go very slow and he wants to kind of fly under the radar.

Alito and Thomas are like, "We're past that."

Or, "We're having a gas, we're going on trips, we're getting wine, we're eating like fancy salmon from Alaska, and nobody can touch us."

There's this really strong desire, I think, among a lot of liberals to believe that the court really isn't as bad as it seems.

So I know there's this dream that maybe one day, "Oh, John Roberts is normal, right?

He'll wake up one day and do the right thing."

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Because before he was a Supreme Court Justice, he had dedicated his career as like a Reagan DOJ nominee to gutting the Voting Rights Act.

And he was never able to do it as a lawyer, but he has, in fact, done it as a Supreme Court Justice.

They are not gonna wake up and be like, "Ah, damn, women should have stuff."

(Lindy laughing) Like, "Whoopsie.

That's not happening."

So take that out of your mind.

So they need to be replaced with people who do care about our democracy, who want to not gut the Voting Rights Act, but expand access to voting to everyone.

Because you really can draw a straight line from like John Roberts gutting to the Voting Rights Act, to people not being able to hand out water in line for people who are trying to vote in Georgia.

- To listen to the full segment, check out the "Cascade PBS Ideas Festival" podcast, wherever you stream podcasts.

(pensive music) A grant program on a few state college campuses is helping formerly incarcerated students navigate their classes and sobriety.

There's a growing support network on some Washington college campuses to help formerly incarcerated students and those who have dealt with sobriety issues.

Students like Mary Meyer enrolled in Skagit Valley College following her release from the Washington Corrections Center for Women.

She, like many others, face being a convicted felon and the uphill battle of recovery from substance addiction.

At SVC, the Reentry Program provides support for people who have been jailed and are looking to pursue higher education.

The college also recognizes the need to work on overdose prevention across the board.

Those State Department of Health reports that for 18 to 24-year-olds, overdose deaths per 100,000 people jumped from 85 in 2018 to 177 in 2022.

The Washington State legislature is making an effort to support schools and providing harm reduction resources.

In February, HB 2112 pass requiring Naloxone and testing strips in public schools and all higher education institutions.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching "The Newsfeed," your destination for nonprofit Northwest news.

Go to crosscut.com for more.

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