Amicus Plus

This week, Donald Trump’s cronies shuttered the Kennedy Center—temporarily, at least—and then the president amplified the threat by being photographed with a posterboard reading “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” It would be easy to dismiss the saga over the iconic venue as the latest in Trump’s weird gold-plated architectural megalomania, but as Madiba K. Dennie explains, destroying buildings and public spaces in America has a long and dangerous history in white supremacy. Dahlia and Madiba also think through the New York Times coverage of what it was like to be a federal judge in Minneapolis this winter during the administration’s anti-immigrant surge, and they discuss another judicial effort to stop the latest lazy-yet-dangerous legal attack on international students, journalists, and professors. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

You’ve seen the headlines about the lists, the claims, the THREE times this same executive order about voting by mail has gone to the Supreme Court. But is Trump’s interference with  mail-in voting settled—at least with respect to the midterms? Our go-to election law expert, Richard Hasen of UCLA School of Law, joins Dahlia to unpack what just happened and how this postal chaos alters voters’ sense of election security. We’re calling this discussion “information” and not “catastrophizing.” Hasen has this advice for listeners: get out there and vote in-person. Next, Sam Sankar of the environmental-law organization Earthjustice explains why SCOTUS’ longstanding skepticism towards the environment does not make him as pessimistic as one might expect. He also takes us behind the scenes in two environmental cases that will kick off the Supreme Court term in a few weeks, including an appeal over whether the Air Force may continue to blow stuff up over an historic beach in Guam.

This four-day workweek was chock-full of  last-minute filings and cases that seemed to come from the Groundhog Day dimension. The GOP continues to use the courts to make everything harder: voting, abortion, and even the concept of time. Madiba K. Dennie joins Dahlia this week to break down what happened in Missouri, to explain how SCOTUS was involved—and to crush Dahlia’s stubborn, residual optimism. They also talk about the latest attempt to ban abortion nationwide in the Louisiana v. FDA case that was argued this week. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Capitulation under Trump 2.0 has been devastating to the rule of law. To review a couple of lowlights: One of the nation’s leading lawyers, Brad Karp, cut a deal with Donald Trump in the first days of the bully-in-chief’s second administration that turned out to constitute five flabby bullet points on an unsigned piece of paper. Chief Justice John Roberts is pretending the president is a generic Republican. Dahlia Lithwick talks to Jacob Weisberg about his new book, Profiles in Cowardice, which examines the flawed individuals leading institutions that were meant to hold the line in Trump's second term but instead gave up almost instantly. They unpack the law firm Paul, Weiss' capitulation in an "agreement" with Trump that protects nobody, Chief Justice John Roberts' fatal bet that the Supreme Court can preserve its prestige while the Justice Department defies federal judges, and Senate enthusiast Mitch McConnell's self-defeating legacy of remaking a judiciary that empowered a president to sideline the Senate entirely. Dahlia and Jacob also examine the first signs of a countervailing force, from Harvard's refusal to make a deal to the question of what Joint Chiefs chairman Dan Caine will do if tested around the midterms.Jacob Weisberg's book is Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era, published by Penguin Press.Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

It’s past time to say it. This Supreme Court is helping President Donald J. Trump evade accountability. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the Berkeley School of Law, joins Dahlia Lithwick to break down the conservative majority's procedural toolkit—standing, ripeness, the Purcell principle, and inscrutable rulings on the shadow docket —and how these doctrinal headfakes are being used to ensure Trump always wins in court, even when he loses. They dig into the White House ballroom case and Trump’s attempt to disrupt mail-in voting and the midterms, they explore what's different from Trump's first term, and ask which of the justices are worried about the court's legitimacy.Plus, we remember Gloria Steinem, who died at 92 this week. From co-founding Ms. magazine to her lifelong allyship with the civil rights movement, Steinem's legacy of building coalitions, lifting up others, and never letting anyone steal her joy carries urgent lessons for a moment in which so much of what she fought for is being erased. Dahlia talks with legal scholar and Ms. Studios executive producer Professor Michele Goodwin.Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

With Slow Burn summering in the Amicus feed for the past three weeks, host Susan Matthews joins Dahlia and Mark in the smokeless cigar bar to pick up where Becoming Justice Gorsuch left off in April. They discuss the blockbuster end-of-term Supreme Court decisions that arrived in June—and Neil Gorsuch’s role in them.Later: Gorsuch recently caught flak from conservatives for saying that America is a “creedal nation”, founded on ideas, not blood. But how does that fit with his vote in the birthright citizenship case, joining Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent?  This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

With Amicus on a brief summer break, we’re bringing you the final installment of Slow Burn’s latest season, Becoming Justice Gorsuch. Host Susan Matthews enlists Slate’s jurisprudence team—Amicus co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern—to discuss Neil Gorsuch’s key rulings to date, his unpredictability, and how this textualist will shape this court (and our country) for decades to come.In this week’s bonus episode: Susan, Dahlia, and Mark recently reconvened to record an update to this conversation, complete with analysis of how Gorsuch figured into the blockbuster, end-of-term decisions handed down in June. Want to listen to that update? If you’re not a Pluskateer yet, join Slate Plus to unlock this conversation—and other weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Even though the smokeless cigar bar has one of those hastily handwritten “Gone fishin’” signs hanging in the window, Dahlia and Mark are setting down their fly rods for a quick chat with the Pluskateer Nation. They deliver a heartfelt expression of gratitude—yes, while wearing chest waders and vests with 27 pockets—and urge everyone to participate in an upcoming event for By the People, our series about popular constitutionalism. Here’s your homework: Tell us what you’re doing to reclaim the constitution for yourself, your loved ones, your neighbors, and your community. Send us your story at amicus@slate.com.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.