Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, ju...

A show about the law and the nine Supreme Court justices who interpret it for the rest of America.


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.

News Commentary
Politics
Government
326
The Supreme Court Term RBG Is Calling "Momentous"
45 min
327
Gerrymandering Goes Back to Court
As is so often the case, all eyes are on Justice Anthony Kennedy.
33 min
328
Breakfast Table Redux
Dahlia Lithwick, Mark Joseph Stern, and Pam Karlan chew over the Supreme Court term just completed.
56 min
329
Nice Little FBI You’ve Got Here. Pity if Someth...
What counts as “obstruction of justice?” And, should judges pay any attention to Trump’s Twitter feed?
49 min
330
Clarence Thomas is Color Blind
The most conservative justice casts a decisive vote to invalidate race-based voting lines.
40 min
331
Animus Amicus
A group of law professors tells a federal court that religious bias lies at the heart of Trump’s travel ban.
50 min
332
The Myth of the Neutral Expert
In the context of a capital trial, is there any such thing?
42 min
333
Playground of Liberty
An important church-state case at the Supreme Court centers on tire scraps repurposed for kids’ play areas.
49 min
334
When Prosecutors Keep Mum
Did eight men spend decades in prison for somebody else’s crime? And – a history of confirmation hearings.
50 min
335
Gorsuch Grins, Says Nothing
Were his hearings as pointless as they seemed?
44 min
336
Why It’s Worth Opposing Gorsuch
It’s not that he’s a bad judge, or that he was nominated by a president so compromised by scandal. Plus – a veteran D.C. journalist tries his hand at fiction.
45 min
337
Never Mind
After spending years challenging a draconian voter ID law in Texas, the DOJ abruptly changes course. Plus – a thorny deportation case is argued at SCOTUS.
50 min
338
General Strike
How state attorneys general are going on the offensive against the most egregious parts of the Trump agenda. And – the Constitution’s limits on the U.S.-Mexico border.
47 min
339
"SEE YOU IN COURT"
A deep dive into the Ninth Circuit’s ruling on President Trump’s immigration ban.
38 min
340
Will You Accept This Robe?
Is Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch really “Scalia 2.0”? And, the constitutional and human costs of Trump’s Muslim ban.
59 min
341
Immunity in High Places
Can government officials be held individually responsible for constitutional violations on their watch? And, why one NFL team is so interested in a trademark challenge brought by a group of Asian-American rockers.
49 min
342
And Then There Were Eight
Trump winnows his shortlist for the Supreme Court’s empty seat. And we preview a big special education case that will be argued next week.
45 min
343
Corruption in the White House
Why the Founders were so adamant about preventing the kind of presidency we’re about to witness. Plus, historians, philosophers, and legal scholars reflect on the climate for free speech on campus.
56 min
344
Where We Draw the Line
The Supreme Court takes up the thorny issue of racial gerrymandering. And, a revolt is underway in the Electoral College.
36 min
345
The Specter of Korematsu
A timely look back at the infamous Supreme Court case that upheld the internment of Japanese-Americans.
32 min
346
Trump’s Constitution
If we take the president-elect at his word, how afraid should we be?
23 min
347
Intimidation Nation
Lawyers challenging punitive voting restrictions in Ohio make an 11th hour appeal to the Supreme Court. And – Trump asks his supporters to go to other people’s polls.
40 min
348
And Now a Word from the White House
Merrick Garland has been waiting seven months for a Senate hearing, but the president’s advisers say Obama has no regrets about the nomination. Plus – the difficulty of keeping racism out of the jury room.
41 min
349
2016 Term Preview
Reflections on the thin gruel of a docket crafted in large part to avoid 4-4 ties. Plus – a conversation with the latest judge to be personally insulted by Donald Trump.
41 min
350
Notorious RBG
Ruth Bader Ginsburg biographer Irin Carmon joins Dahlia to reflect on how the diminutive Supreme Court justice came to loom so large in the consciousness of young feminists. Dahlia also speaks with the proud owner of an RBG tattoo.
36 min