Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

In this week’s episode, Professor Leah Litman joins Dahlia Lithwick to tune into Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s comments on #MeToo and due process. And for a full background check on the sexy-sounding Janus v. AFSCME case, which potentially poses an existential threat to public sector unions, Dahlia is joined by Professor Catherine Fisk of the U.C. Berkeley School of Law, who wrote about the case for SCOTUSblog.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected] production by Sara Burningham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the high court is on its winter break, but the team here at Amicus wanted to talk about DACA, the travel ban, and issues around immigrants, refugees, and the law. We talk Americanism. Who is American and how? What do the courts have to say about who can be here and who cannot? What role do the courts play in figuring out who belongs here and who doesn’t? To tackle these thorny and sometimes super-wonky questions, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Stephen Vladeck who teaches law at the University of Texas. Vladeck’s teaching and research focus on federal jurisdiction, constitutional law, and national security law. He’s CNN's Supreme Court analyst, co-editor in-chief of the Just Security blog, and a senior contributor to the Lawfare blog. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to slate.com/amicusplus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected] production by Sara Burningham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re inside the chamber for the high-profile case involving a death row inmate from Louisiana who’s asking for a new trial after his lawyer told the jury his client was guilty, despite the client’s insistence that he was innocent. Jay Schweikert, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice and co-author of an amicus brief filed in this case, joins Dahlia Lithwick to sift through the arguments and legal principles at play. Veteran Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse talks about shifting positions from the solicitor General’s office, tees up a key case at the intersection of abortion and free speech that will be heard by the high court this term, and gives her take on the status of the truth in the courts and the country in the age of Trump. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to slate.com/amicusplus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected] production by Sara Burningham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes the technical stuff is how you get to the crucial stuff. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear a case about Ohio’s voter purge, and the case rests on some sticky statutory interpretation questions. Up to 1.2 million voters may have been purged from Ohio’s rolls after they sat out a couple of elections and in this episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick does a deep dive into the technicalities of the case. Dahlia and her guests also use this moment to take stock of the state of voting rights in the US. Dahlia talks with Mayor Joseph Helle of Oak Harbor, Ohio, a veteran who came home to find he’d been purged from the rolls after not voting while on active duty, and to the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, Dale Ho. Ho even cites his favorite Justice Antonin Scalia opinion. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to slate.com/amicusplus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The cultural whirlwind of #MeToo has reached the judiciary, reluctantly bringing Dahlia Lithwick into the fray along with it. In a piece for Slate, she detailed her firsthand experiences with Judge Alex Kozinski. Dahlia’s was one of many accounts that that have now surfaced. Heid Bond was one of the first women prepared to go on the record. A former clerk to Judge Kozinski, she now writes romance novels under the name Courtney Milan. You can read Bond’s piece here and Judge Kozinski’s statement here. We speak with three of Kozinski’s accusers—Heidi Bond, Emily Murphy, and Leah Litman—and hear their ideas about what needs to change to allow women to work safely and successfully in a system often shrouded in secrecy. Then Dahlia is joined by Mark Joseph Stern for a run through the headline arguments and decisions from the Supreme Court in 2017 and a look ahead at what to expect in 2018. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to Slate.com/amicusplus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected] production by Sara Burningham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Mueller investigation keeps keeping on as subtweets, speculation, and objections mount. Dahlia Lithwick speaks with Andrew Wright, a former associate counsel to President Barack Obama about the latest developments. Plus a deep dive into the oral arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case with Roberta Kaplan, who successfully argued Edie Windsor’s case against the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013.Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to slate.com/amicusplus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected] production by Sara Burningham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amicus presents a preview of Slow Burn, an eight-episode miniseries about Watergate. People called her crazy, and to be fair she must have seemed crazy. But she was onto something. How Martha Mitchell, the celebrity wife of one of Nixon’s closest henchmen, tried to blow the whistle on Watergate—and ended up ruining her life.Find out more at slate.com/slowburn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the high court continues through its unprecedented session, Dahlia speaks with Adam Liptak who covers the Supreme Court for the New York Times and knows the ins and outs of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. And he gives his insight on what a jaw-dropping brief from the Solicitor General's office means for relations between the Court and the Trump administration. Plus, a look into how the Supreme Court Justices seem to be the last grown-ups left in Washington. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the wake of another American mass shooting, Dahlia speaks with Adam Skaggs, Chief counsel at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence about the Second Amendment. And as this week marks the one year anniversary of Donald Trump’s election to office, Becca Heller, co-founder of the International Refugee Assistance Project, joins to talk about how her job changed after the election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dahlia Lithwick speaks with Representative Jamie Raskin about the Republican remedy for Trump's unfitness for office: The 25th Amendment. Plus, she speaks with ProPublica's Ryan Gabrielson about his recent reporting which revealed that the high court tends to make staggering errors of fact in opinions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dahlia is joined by Kristen Clarke, President & Executive Director of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to talk about the federal judiciary and how Donald Trump is speedily filling the vacancies on the federal bench. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As next week marks the opening of the 2017 term at the high court, Dahlia Lithwick speaks with David Cole, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, about some of the cases in this upcoming term, including Trump's travel ban, a civil rights case of gay couples versus those of religious dissenters and more. Cole also discusses how citizen activism is more alive than he's seen is his lifetime, something he illustrates in his new book, now out in paperback, Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the Supreme Court term opens next month, perhaps no issue will be more urgent – and more complicated – than voting rights. One of the first cases the justices will hear is Gill v. Whitford, a challenge to the 2011 redrawing of district lines in Wisconsin. While the Court has struck down racially-motivated gerrymanders in the past, no election map has ever been rejected as a purely partisan gerrymander. And recent developments have some court watchers concerned that Justice Anthony Kennedy may still not be ready to do that. Our guest this episode is Richard Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, and curator of the must-read Election Law Blog. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Supreme Court’s 2016 term may not have contained the usual number of blockbuster cases, but it did have its fair share of drama. Between the stonewalling of Merrick Garland, the filibustered confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, rumors about Anthony Kennedy’s possible retirement, and in the background, the White House offensive against the federal judiciary, court-watchers had no shortage of things to keep them up at night. And so this week on Amicus, we pour a couple of our favorite court-watchers a big cup of coffee and plop some microphones down at Slate’s annual “Breakfast Table.” Mark Joseph Stern and Pamela Karlan join us to discuss what we learned about the justices this term and what we can expect from them in the fall. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his much-anticipated testimony on Capitol Hill this week, former FBI Director James Comey described several uncomfortable interactions with President Trump that preceded his firing. The big question for all watching was: could any of those interactions be considered “obstruction of justice?” On this week’s episode, we put the question to Stanford Law School Professor Robert Weisberg. We also discuss the ongoing litigation around President Trump’s executive order on immigration with Kate Shaw, an associate professor at the Cardozo School of Law and a Supreme Court analyst for ABC News. Shaw is the author of a new article in the Texas Law Review that considers what sorts of presidential speech is and isn’t admissible in a court of law. [Read Shaw’s recent New York Times op-ed on the subject here.] Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected] production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that caught some Court-watchers off-guard. It ruled that North Carolina lawmakers had violated the Constitution by using race as a proxy for divvying up voters along partisan lines. And it was surprising because the swing vote invalidating the gerrymander came from none other than Justice Clarence Thomas. On this week’s episode, we parse the outcome of Cooper v. Harris -- and what it portends for future redistricting litigation -- with Slate legal writer Mark Joseph Stern. We also sit down with Jorge Barón, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Each year, that group provides assistance to thousands of immigrants threatened with deportation. But last month, the NWIRP received a strange cease-and-desist letter from the U.S. Department of Justice, threatening its ongoing legal work and raising some concerns that the group is being singled out for its defense of immigrants caught up in the first iteration of President Trump’s travel ban. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the wake of the unceremonious termination of FBI director James Comey this week, one previously unfamiliar name has dominated the news cycle: Rod J. Rosenstein. The former federal prosecutor became the U.S. Deputy Attorney General just over two weeks ago, and since then, has found himself at the center of storm around President Trump’s most high-profile firing to date. Leon Neyfakh has been covering Rosenstein for the past few weeks, and joins us to talk about whether anyone at the Department of Justice can remain neutral in these polarized times. We also speak with University of Virginia School of Law professor Micah Schwartzman about this week’s oral arguments in one of the lawsuits challenging President Trump’s revised travel ban. Schwartzman is among a group of constitutional law scholars who filed an amicus brief arguing that the executive order violates the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Supreme Court has slowed Arkansas’ unprecedented rush to execute eight men in 11 days, pending a decision in McWilliams v. Dunn. At issue in the case is whether James McWilliams, an indigent defendant whose mental health was a significant factor at his capital trial, was entitled to an independent psychological expert to testify on his behalf. We discuss the case with Stephen Bright, longtime president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, who represented McWilliams at this week’s oral arguments. We also sit down with Norm Eisen, co-founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), to discuss the ongoing anti-corruption litigation against President Trump. Last week, CREW added two new plaintiffs to its lawsuit, which alleges that Trump’s business interests put him in violation of the Constitution’s Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses. Eisen reflects on the ethical issues of the Trump Administration’s first 100 days, why the president’s tax returns still matter, and what he believes is the single most concerning ethics violation of the new commander-in-chief. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Newly sworn-in Justice Neil Gorsuch gets his first chance to make his mark on the Court at this week’s oral arguments for Trinity Lutheran v. Comer. The important case asks whether the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause compels the state of Missouri to provide public grant money directly to a church. Holly Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, joins us to discuss BJC’s amicus brief in the case, which argues that religious institutions are actually freer if they are barred from accepting government funds.We also sit down with Jeffrey Toobin, whose piece in this week’s The New Yorker examines the enormous influence that the Federalist Society – and especially its executive vice president Leonard Leo – have on the American judiciary. Toobin argues that with the ascension of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Leo can now be credited with the selection of one-third of the nation’s most powerful judges. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1985, eight men were convicted of the grisly murder of a Washington D.C. woman. After spending decades in prison, they learned from an article in the Washington Post that prosecutors had withheld evidence from trial that could have exculpated them. This week, the Supreme Court delved back into the details of the 30-plus year old murder case and considered whether the case should be reopened. Former defense lawyer Thomas Dybdahl is writing a book about the murder and its aftermath, and joins us to discuss Turner v. USand Overton v. US. We also speak with legal scholar Lori Ringhand, who literally wrote the book on Supreme Court confirmation hearings. She reflects on some of the ways the process has evolved over the years, whether the so-called “Ginsburg rule” is appropriately named, and what purpose these hearings actually serve. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the Senate held four days of hearings on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. What did we learn about Gorsuch from his 20-odd hours in the hot seat? Did the Democrats gain anything of value from the testimony? Did Gorsuch say anything of substance? And, in the end, will the hearings even matter? In this bonus episode, we reflect on the hearings with veteran political operative Ron Klain and Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app.Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video lecture service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here.Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a successful blockade of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, the GOP-led Senate will convene hearings this week on President Trump’s pick for the Court’s year-old vacancy. Considering all that has happened in the past year, how should Democrats handle the proceedings? On this week’s episode, we put that question to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. We also sit down with veteran journalist Tom Rosenstiel to discuss his debut novel Shining City, a timely thriller about the inner-workings of a controversial Supreme Court nomination. Tom describes how his decades of political reporting informed the book, and reflects on some of the parallels between reality and fiction. Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.And by Blue Apron. Create delicious, home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients delivered right to your door. Get your first three meals free when you go to BlueApron.com/Amicus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Monday, the Department of Justice announced an abrupt about-face on voting rights, essentially walking away from a lawsuit against a harsh voter-ID law in Texas. We discuss the reversal and its implications with Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She was one of the lawyers in the strange position of arguing the case in court this week, the day after the DOJ reversed course. We also sit down with Jeffrey Fisher, who argued an important immigration-related case at the Supreme Court his week. Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions asks whether a legal immigrant can be deported for something that counts as a serious crime in some states, but not others. It also previews a question likely to play a big role in Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings: how much deference courts should give federal agencies when interpreting the meaning of laws. Amicus is brought to you by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses. Get $50 toward any mattress purchase by going to Casper.com/amicusand using the promo code amicus.And by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2010, a Mexican teenager in Juarez was shot to death by a Border Patrol agent on the U.S. side of the border. In Hernandez v. Mesa, set for argument next week, the Supreme Court will determine whether the boy’s parents can sue the agent in U.S. courts. We are joined by Deepak Gupta, the family’s attorney, to discuss the case and its potential implications on American intelligence activities abroad. We also sit down with Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring to discuss this week’s ruling by a federal judge in one of the lawsuits challenging President Trump’s travel ban. Herring explains why Virginia joined the plaintiffs in that suit, and what the role of state attorneys general will be in the next four years of the Trump era. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron’s meal kits are delivered right to your door, and make cooking at home easy. Get your first three meals free by going to BlueApron.com/Amicus. And by First Republic Bank. First Republic is dedicated to providing extraordinary service and changing the way clients feel about banking. Visit firstrepublic.com to hear what their clients say about them. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A little more than a week after President Trump announced his ban on travel from a handful of majority-Muslim nations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week refused to lift a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the new rule. This week, Dahlia sits down with fellow Slate legal writers Mark Joseph Stern and Jeremy Stahl for a special off-week episode to discuss the ruling and its implications.Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an elaborately choreographed prime-time ceremony this week, President Trump tapped Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court seat that has been vacant for almost a year. We sit down with the Constitutional Accountability Center’s Elizabeth Wydra to examine Judge Gorsuch’s judicial record, whether he really is “Scalia 2.0,” and the difficult choices confronting Senate Democrats in the wake of this nomination. We also consider the ramifications of reports that some U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are defying federal court orders around Trump’s new travel restrictions. Slate staffers Mark Joseph Stern and Leon Neyfakh tell us what they learned from constitutional law scholars about the possibility of a standoff between two branches of the federal government. (Read our Slate piece on the subject here.) Finally, we zero in on one of the many lawsuits filed this week against Trump’s executive order. Aziz v. Trump centers on a pair of young men who were en route to join their father in Michigan when the order was issued, and wound up being deported to Ethiopia upon their arrival at Dulles International Airport. We’re joined by the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses. Get $50 toward any mattress purchase by going to Casper.com/amicusand using the promo code amicus.And by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can a group of wrongfully-detained noncitizens sue high-ranking Bush Administration officials for violating their rights in the days following 9/11? That’s the central question in Ziglar v Abbasi, which was argued this week at the Supreme Court. On today’s episode, we hear from Rachel Meeropol of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who represented the former detainees. We also consider Lee v. Tam, another big case argued at the high court on Wednesday. It centers on a trademark claim by the Asian-American dance-rock band The Slants. That claim was denied on the grounds that the name was disparaging towards “persons of Asian descent.” Simon Tam joins us to tell the story of his band’s name, and to make the case that the government isn’t equipped to be deciding who is and isn’t using language disparagingly. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.And by Blue Apron. Blue Apron’s meal kits are delivered right to your door, and make cooking at home easy. Get your first THREE meals FREE by going to BlueApron.com/amicus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the lead-up to November’s presidential election, Donald Trump released a list of 21 potential Supreme Court nominees in what many saw as an effort to mollify conservatives who tend to worry about these sorts of things. Now, that list has reportedly been narrowed to eight. On this episode, we sit down with William Jay, a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, to discuss Scalia’s possible successors. We also speak with Jack Robinson, a lawyer for the special-needs student at the center of Endrew F. v Douglas City School District. The case is scheduled for argument at the Supreme Court next week, and Robinson explains why special-education advocates are watching the case so closely. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. Get $50 toward any mattress purchase by going to Casper.com/amicus and using the promo code Amicus. And by the Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“[N]o person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” These words, from Article I of the U.S. Constitution, make it unambiguously clear to many legal scholars that Donald Trump will be committing an impeachable offense by not relinquishing an ownership stake in his multiple companies before Jan 20. Zephyr Teachout is among those scholars, and joins us to explain why corruption in the presidency was such anathema to the nation’s founders. In the remainder of today’s episode, we share a few highlights from a recent symposium about the current state of free speech on campus. The event was organized by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. You can watch videos of the entire two-day event here.Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service with a large library of lectures all taught by award-winning professors. Get a free month of unlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.And by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. Get 50 dollars toward any mattress purchase by going to Casper.com/amicus and using the promo code Amicus.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in McCrory v. Harris and Bethune-Hill v. Virginia Board of Elections, two challenges to Republican gerrymandering efforts that resulted in the creation of majority-minority voting districts. At issue is whether lawmakers in Virginia and North Carolina were motivated primarily by racial considerations or only secondarily so. Marc Elias, the lawyer who represented the challengers in both cases, joins us to explain why the distinction is so critical. We also consider the revolt that’s underway in the Electoral College. A small group of electors calling themselves the Hamilton Electors are seeking to be unbound from state requirements that they vote as their state voted. Legal scholar Carolyn Shapiro explains why she believes the Hamilton Electors should be taken seriously. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus, a video learning service with a large library of lectures all taught by award-winning professors. Get a free month of unlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. And by First Republic Bank. At First Republic, the staff takes the time to know your business and customize solutions to help you reach your goals. Visit FirstRepublic.com today to hear what their clients say about them. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just a few weeks into the era of President-elect Donald Trump, and already there is a lot of bruising around the edges of the Constitution. The past few weeks have brought talk of Muslim registries, jail time for flag burners, restrictions on voting and the sweet mystery of the Emoluments Clause. This week, we sit down with U.S. Senator Chris Coons to discuss how much of this talk we should take seriously, and where the true threats to Americans’ constitutional protections lie. We also speak with Neal Katyal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, about the 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld the internment of Japanese-Americans. In 2011, Katyal issued an official apology for the role of one of his predecessors in that case. Korematsu v United Stateshas been in the news again recently, after one Trump surrogate cited it as a “precedent” for a possible Trump Administration program that would require the registration of immigrants from a handful of predominantly Muslim countries. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus, a video learning service with a large library of lectures all taught by award-winning professors. Get a free month of unlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. And by First Republic Bank. At First Republic, they take the time to know your business and customize solutions to help you reach your goals. Visit FirstRepublic.com today to hear what their clients say about them. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the days leading up to Election Day, conservative legal scholar Orin Kerr explained why he would be crossing the aisle to vote for a Democrat. On this episode, he tells us why the prospect of a President Trump frightened him so much, and what we can expect in the way of checks and balances on executive power for the next four years. We also speak with Garrett Epps, who wrote in The Atlantic this week that Trump is “a figure out of authoritarian politics, not the American tradition.” Epps observes that Trump has expressed contempt for nearly every article in the Bill of Rights, and deserves to be taken at his word. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service with a large library of lectures all taught by award-winning professors. Get a free month of unlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. And by First Republic Bank. At First Republic, they take the time to know your business and customize solutions to help you reach your goals. Visit FirstRepublic.com today to hear what their clients say about them. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v Holder, many states made changes to their voting laws that may disproportionately harm minorities. This week, lawyers in Ohio filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court requesting a suspension of voting restrictions in their state. One of those lawyers, Subodh Chandra, joins us to explain why. We also speak with Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, about the potential impact of Donald Trump’s recent warnings about vote-rigging. She explains why long-term neglect of our voting infrastructure is a much bigger threat than either vote tampering or self-styled poll watchers. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service with a large library of lectures all taught by award-winning professors. Get a free month of unlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. And by Blue Apron. For less than $10 per meal, Blue Apron delivers meal kits right to your door to make cooking at home easy. Get your first THREE meals FREE by going to BlueApron.com/amicus. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in March, there was widespread speculation that opposing his confirmation hearings could have political costs for Republican senators. But seven months later, it’s not clear how much the GOP’s continued obstructionism will matter to voters next month. On this episode, we discuss Obama’s handling of the Supreme Court vacancy with White House Counsel Neil Eggleston and Brian Deese, Senior Adviser to the President. We also take a closer look at Peña Rodriguez v. Colorado, an important case about jury bias that was argued at the Supreme Court this week. Jeffrey Fisher, who represented the petitioner, joins us to explain why blatantly racist comments uttered by a juror in a criminal trial should invalidate that trial’s verdict. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service with a large library of lectures all taught by award-winning professors. Get a free month of unlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. And by Blue Apron. For less than 10 dollars per meal, Blue Apron delivers meal kits right to your door to make cooking at home easy. Get your first THREE mealsFREE by going to BlueApron.com/amicus.Subscribe to our podcast here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us at Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field.Panoply SurveyWe want you to tell us about the podcasts you enjoy, and how often you listen to them. So we created a survey that takes just a couple of minutes to complete. If you fill it out, you'll help Panoply to make great podcasts about the things you love. And things you didn’t even know you loved. To fill out the survey, just go to www.megaphone.fm/survey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2016 Supreme Court term gets underway next week, but don’t get too excited. Eager to avoid any more 4-4 split decisions, the eight remaining justices have cobbled together a caseload that steers clear of the big social questions that defined the court’s past two terms. SCOTUSblog founder and publisher Tom Goldstein joins us for our annual survey of what’s ahead. We also speak with former federal judge Shira Scheindlin. In 2013, she ruled that stop-and-frisk tactics were being used unconstitutionally by the NYPD. Because of that ruling, she was accused this week by Donald Trump of being “very against police.” Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here. Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service withhundreds of engaging lectures taught by top professors. Get a free month ofunlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. And by Blue Apron. For less than 10 dollars per meal, Blue Apron delivers mealkits right to your door to make cooking at home easy. Get your first THREEmeals FREE by going to BlueApron.com/amicus. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook here.Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We kick off a brand new season of our podcast with an episode devoted to the member of the Supreme Court bench who has garnered by far the most headlines since our last episode. That’s right, it’s the slavish fangirl edition of Amicus, in which we cave to the pressure of our listeners and fête the woman who had the temerity to call Donald Trump a “faker” this past July. Joining us to discuss the cultural phenomenon that is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is MSNBC national reporter Irin Carmon, co-author of the bestselling biography Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We also hear from Cooper Sirwatka, a New York attorney and proud wearer of a full-color RBG tattoo. Amicus is brought to you by Upstanders, a new podcast from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Hear stories of ordinary peopledoing extraordinary things to create positive change in their communities. Listen and subscribe to Upstanders on iTunes now.Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts,and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Monday, the Supreme Court invalidated two provisions of Texas’ omnibus abortion law known as HB2. The 5-3 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt was a big win for abortion rights advocates, many of whom expected things to turn out the other way. On today’s show, we speak with Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of the abortion provider that challenged the Texas law. We also sit down with Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern to recap the highlights – and lowlights – of one a Supreme Court term that was chock-full of unexpected twists and turns. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with thousands of lectures on dozens of topics. Learn more at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.And by Wunder Capital. Invest in large-scale solar project across the US. Create an account for free at Wundercapital.com/amicus. Invest in Wunder Capital’ssolar funds. Do well and do good. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marriage equality. Voting Rights. Obamacare. These are among the many enormously consequential causes that have fallen to Donald Verrilli to defend at the Supreme Court over the past five years. On this week’s episode, he looks back on some of the highlights – and lowlights – of his term as U.S. Solicitor General. We’re also joined by Sherrilyn Ifill, President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, to discuss this week’s big affirmative action win at the Supreme Court. Many court-watchers were surprised by Justice Anthony Kennedy’s vote in Fisher v University of Texas, but not Ifill. She tells us why. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with thousands of lectures on dozens of topics. Right now, Amicus listeners can stream Influence: Mastering Life’s Most Powerful Skill—and hundreds of other courses—for free. Just visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much of the legal world’s attention was focused this week on Donald Trump’s attacks on Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge presiding over the Trump University fraud cases in California. The outrage centered on Trump’s insistence that the fact of Curiel’s Mexican ancestry should disqualify him from the case, considering Trump’s declared intent to build a border wall. We discuss Trump’s stance – and its historical antecedents – with Deborah Rhode, founding director of Stanford University’s Center on Ethics. And we sit down with Jeffrey Rosen to talk about the far-reaching legal mind of Justice Louis Brandeis, confirmed to the Supreme Court 100 years ago this month. Rosen is the author of the new book Louis D. Brandeis: An American Prophet. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Sign up for a free Slate Plus trial here. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with thousands of lectures on dozens of topics. Right now, Amicus listeners can stream Influence: Mastering Life’s Most Powerful Skill—and hundreds of other courses—for free. Just visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.And by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. All Casper mattresses come with free delivery and returns within a 100-day period. Right now, get 50 dollars toward any mattress purchase by visiting Casper.com/amicus and using the promo code AMICUS.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite many appearances to the contrary, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer this week told an interviewer that the Court has not been diminished by the Senate’s inability to fill its empty seat. On this episode, Dahlia considers that claim with The Atlantic’s Garrett Epps. She is also joined by legal scholar Jonathan Adler, who weighs in on Donald Trump’s recently released shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees. Adler counts himself among the conservatives who are deeply troubled by the prospect of Trump’s impact on the judiciary were he to be elected president.You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with thousands of lectures on dozens of topics. For a limited time, Amicus listeners can stream Influence: Mastering Life’s Most Powerful Skill—and hundreds of other courses—for free. Just visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dahlia sits down with Tony Mauro of the National Law Journal to listen to highlights from the Supreme Court’s 2015 term. And she speaks with Politico’s Josh Gerstein about recent non-developments in the non-confirmation of SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland.You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with thousands of lectures on dozens of topics. For a limited time, Amicus listeners can stream Influence: Mastering Life’s Most Powerful Skill—and hundreds of other courses—for free. Just visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in McDonnell v. United States, an appeal of the 2014 corruption conviction of Virginia’s former governor. The facts of thecase read a bit like a reality show, with Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife affording access to a wealthy businessman in exchange for Rolex watches, fancy ball gowns and expensive golf clubs. But on this episode of the podcast, former federal judge Nancy Gertner argues that prosecutors interpreted an anti-corruption law too broadly. (Gertner co-authored an amicus brief in support of McDonnell – you can read it here.)You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with thousands of lectures on dozens of topics. For a limited time, Amicus listeners can stream The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas—and hundreds of other courses—for free. Just visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dahlia previews United States v. Texas – this week’s big immigration case – with Brianne Gorod of the Constitutional Accountability Center. She also hears from Sen. Al Franken about the latest in the standoff over Obama’s SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Garland.You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with thousands of lectures on dozens of topics. For a limited time, Amicus listeners can stream The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas—and hundreds of other courses—for free. Just visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. And by “Confirmation,” the new HBO film that details the explosive 1991 Supreme Court nomination hearings of Clarence Thomas. Confirmation premieres at 8 p.m. tonight, April 16th, on HBO. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than two weeks have passed since President Obama tapped Merrick Garland to fill Antonin Scalia’s vacant seat on the Supreme Court. But while their rationale has shifted somewhat, Senate Republican leaders remain as firm as ever in their refusal to hold confirmation hearings for the nominee. On this week’s episode, University of Chicago Law School professor Geoffrey R. Stone joins us to explain why the GOP’s intransigence is so threatening to the core institutions of federal government.You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Amicus is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with more than 5,000 lectures on subjects from science to cooking to history. Right now, you can have unlimited access to the entire Great Courses Plus library—for one whole month for free—by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Zubik v Burwell, the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act. This time, a group of religious non-profits are challenging the government’s accommodation for employers who don’t want to have anything to do with providing birth control to their workers. Dahlia speaks with Paul Clement, who argued the case for the plaintiffs, and Walter Dellinger, who supports the government's position.You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. This week’s excerpts from the Supreme Court’s public sessions were provided by Oyez, a free law project at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, part of the Illinois Institute of Technology.Amicus is sponsored by Amazon. Detective Harry Bosch is back on the new season of Amazon’s Original Series Bosch, based on the best selling novels by Michael Connelly. Stream the new season now on Amazon Prime Video.And by The Great Courses Plus, a new video service with more than 5,000 lectures on subjects from science to cooking to history. Right now, you can have unlimited access to the entire Great Courses Plus library—for one whole month for free—by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was a big week at SCOTUS, as a newly-balanced Court turned to Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, its first abortion case in nine years. We discuss the case with legal scholar Pamela Karlan and listen to some highlights from oral arguments.Amicus is sponsored by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. Casper mattresses come with free delivery and returns within a100-day period. And get 50 dollars toward any mattress purchase by visitingCasper.com/amicus and using the promo code AMICUS.And by Amazon. Detective Harry Bosch is back on the new season of Amazon’s Original Series Bosch, based on the best selling novels by Michael Connelly. Stream the new season on March 11th on Amazon Prime Video.Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A week after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, his former clerk Rachel Barkow shares fond memories of a mentor with whom she didn’t always agree politically. And legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar explains why Scalia didn’t always remain true to his originalist principles.You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The sudden death on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday has unleashed huge shockwaves in both the presidential race and the legal community. Luckily, Slate has podcasts covering both areas. In this special joint episode, Amicus host Dahlia Lithwick joins Political Gabfest panelists Emily Bazelon and David Plotz to look at all the possible repercussions of Scalia’s death.Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Dahlia asks why the Supreme Court has been almost absent as a campaign issue, despite the fact that the next president could have the opportunity to reshape the Court’s bench. She is joined by UC-Irvine law professor Erwin Chemerinsky.Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusivemember-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Heffernan v City of Paterson, the Supreme Court must decide whether a government worker can be punished for a political belief his employers attribute to him – rightly or wrongly. This week, Dahlia speaks with lawyers on both sides of the topsy-turvy case.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Subscribe to our podcast here. You can find past episodes of our show here. Amicus is sponsored by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. Casper mattresses come with free delivery and returns within a 100-day period. Get $50 toward any mattress purchase by visiting Casper.com/amicus and using the promo code AMICUS. Podcast production by Tony Field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.