Alex Wagner lays out roots of conservative efforts to influence courts

WBUR

Published September 23, 2026 at 12:15 PM EDT

The cover of "The Steal" beside author Alex Wagner. (Courtesy of Flatiron Books)

The Supreme Court’s new term begins next month, with a conservative supermajority that has been overturning legal precedents like the Constitutional right to abortion. A new book looks at the decades-long effort by conservatives to influence the courts.

Here & Now‘s Indira Lakshmanan speaks with Alex Wagner, author of “The Steal: Four Right-Wing Hard-Liners, One Republican Presidency, and the Raid on America’s Courts.”

Book excerpt: ‘The Steal’

By Alex Wagner

Excerpted with permission of Flatiron Books.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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