Courts

You Have To Check Out This Epic Supreme Court Jeopardy! Fail

It's not that hard.

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Senate Holds Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings For Ketanji Brown Jackson

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

If you’ve ever wondered if you’re smarter than three Jeopardy! contestants — in the Tournament of Champions, no less — the answer is yes. Yes, you are. This isn’t some affirmation bullshit (though you *are* good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like you), but based on evidence from last night’s episode of the syndicated game show.

Because in the ToC, the contestants were asked this incredibly easy question that anyone who follows the Supreme Court or politics or even just current events should 100% know. And yet, not a single contestant — Amy Schneider, Tyler Rhode, and Maureen O’Neil appeared on the episode — rang in.

I don’t understand why this is so tough for the contestants — it’s not like they asked them to spell Ketanji (not that the spelling is particularly difficult).

Excuses for this epic fail abound, with some speculating that, given the category “3-Named People,” contestants didn’t know the “Brown” in Ketanji Brown Jackson. Or that the legal world is in its own isolated bubble, or that they assumed the first Black woman on the Court must have happened longer ago. All of which strikes me as some pretty weak sauce.

At least one of the contestants apologized for the gaff.

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The episode also featured another Supreme Court triple stumper (though not as egregious the KBJ brain fart). No one was able to answer in the category Supreme Court case, “Dobbs v. this city’s Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade.” Which everyone reading Above the Law — or following the midterm elections — knows is Jackson, Mississippi.

I guess “Jackson” just proved too difficult to remember for this question too.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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