''5-4'' (pronounced "five to four") is a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

that covers the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

from a critical,

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

perspective. The podcast's tagline describes it as being "about how much the Supreme Court sucks", and providing an "irreverent tour of all the ways in which the law is shaped by politics." It was launched by

Leon Neyfakh Leon Neyfakh (born 1985) is an American journalist, radio host and writer. He is known for hosting the podcasts '' Slow Burn'' and ''Fiasco'', and his book '' The Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up''. Early life an ...

's Prologue Projects in partnership with the

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

Podcast Network.

Premise

The hosts are self-described advocates for

legal realism Legal realism is a naturalistic approach to law. It is the view that jurisprudence should emulate the methods of natural science, i.e., rely on empirical evidence. Hypotheses must be tested against observations of the world. Legal realists be ...

. The first episode of the podcast was about ''

Bush v. Gore ''Bush v. Gore'', 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, th ...

''.

History

''5-4'' was launched in February 2020 by

's Prologue Projects in partnership with

Podcast Network (which has since been renamed

Cumulus Cumulus clouds are clouds which have flat bases and are often described as "puffy", "cotton-like" or "fluffy" in appearance. Their name derives from the Latin ''cumulo-'', meaning ''heap'' or ''pile''. Cumulus clouds are low-level clouds, gener ...

Podcast Network). Its hosts, Rhiannon, Peter, and Michael, maintain a semi-anonymous profiles as podcast hosts, disclosing only their first names and a "handful of biographical details" in any given episode. Rihannon worked as a

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Texas; Peter previously served as in-house counsel for

MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...

and was fired upon his employers finding out about his role on the podcast; Michael was a former associate at

Sullivan & Cromwell Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Known as a white-shoe firm, Sullivan & Cromwell is recognized as a leader in business law, and is known for its impact on international affairs, such a ...

, and self-described “reformed corporate lawyer.” Neyfakh's original advertising partnership with Westwood One failed to generate significant revenue for the podcast, so the decision was made to instead fund its production through

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...

. The following month,

Nicholas Quah Nicholas Quah is a journalist for Vulture and is the creator of the Nieman Lab newsletter Hot Pod News. Career Quah was the creator of the ''Hotpods'' newsletter. Quah worked for BuzzFeed in 2015 while writing the newsletter. Vox Media acquir ...

wrote in ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'': "After its pivot to Patreon, ''5-4'' is now significantly better positioned for the next stage of its life, and its experience stands as a good example of the fact that a race for scale isn't the only way to run a shop in this business."

Notable guests

Elected American politicians have been guests on the show.

Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Attorney from 1993 to 1998 ...

, Senator of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, appeared on the podcast in 2021.

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

, a "fan", was a guest in July 2022. Representatives

Ro Khanna Rohit Khanna (; born September 13, 1976) is an American politician, lawyer, and academic serving as the U.S. representative from California's 17th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated eight-term incumbe ...

and

Mondaire Jones Mondaire L. Jones (born May 18, 1987) is an American lawyer and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2021 to 2023. The district includes most of central and northwestern Westchester County and all of Rockland County. A member of t ...

appeared in separate episodes, discussing court reform.

Jamelle Bouie Jamelle Antoine Bouie (born April 12, 1987) is an American columnist for ''The New York Times''. He was formerly chief political correspondent for ''Slate''. David Uberti, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review in 2019, called Bouie "one of ...

discussed the Democratic political strategy in July 2022.

Alec Karakatsanis Alec Karakatsanis (born November 7, 1983) is an American civil rights lawyer, social justice advocate, co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law, and founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps, a Washington D.C. impact litigation nonprof ...

appeared, criticizing the U.S. legal system.

Reception

Within a week of its launch in February 2021, the ''5-4'' Patreon had accumulated almost 3,000 paid subscribers, enough to generate roughly $200,000 in revenue each year. As of July 2022, it earns $35,000 per month. It is the 39th most popular podcast tracked by Graphtreon, and the 101st most popular Patreon project overall. The podcast has typically been well-received, with the hosts' "funny, forceful" argumentation" and "enthusiastically acidic takes on the once-widely revered American legal institution" praised for making the law more accessible to its listeners and everyday people. It particularly gained popularity in the summer of 2022, after the overturning of ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...

'' under ''

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. The court's decision overruled both ''R ...

''; the month of the Dobbs decision, the number of episode downloads increased 90% from the last year.

Episodes

, ''5–4'' has had the following episodes:

2020

2021

2022

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.fivefourpod.com/ Political podcasts 2020 podcast debuts Liberal podcasts