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

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Slate Podcasts

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 member-exclusive episodes from Dahlia. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

#352

Judge David Tatel and a New Perspective on the Court

It’s not just us feeling exhausted right? It’s been a totally wild past few weeks. That’s why we are taking off the next few weeks to bring you a special series we’re calling “The Law According to Trump.” Andrea Bernstein, the host of WNYC’s Trump Inc., will be stepping into the host chair for Dahlia Lithwick in the month of August to explain how the former president uses the law to his advantage, and how he has gamed the judicial system to his advantage for decades before he entered political life. Andrea joins Dahlia to preview the series. Later in the show, Dahlia talks with Judge David S. Tatel. Tatel served on the [United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_District_of_Columbia_Circuit) , and became prominent for both his jurisprudence and his blindness. His new memoir, [Vision] (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-s-tatel/vision/9781668641439/?lens=little-brown) , was published last month and every young lawyer should read it. On this week’s show Judge Tatel discusses the book, which details his experience on the federal appeals court and his blindness. They also talk about his concerns for the current Supreme Court and its recent approach to the law. Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

6 hrs Ago

1 HR 09 MINS

1:09:20

6 hrs Ago

#351

SCOTUS Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

So President Biden finally signaled an openness to [maybe possibly thinking about Supreme Court reform.] (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/07/joe-biden-court-reform-plan.html) Too little, too late, perhaps - but also, desperately needed, certainly. The US Supreme Court views itself as separate and apart from all other courts - including international counterparts. What could Americans learn from other courts? One of the world’s most respected jurists, [retired Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella] (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/14/justice-rule-of-law-ruth-bader-ginsburg-rosalie-abella/) , joins Dahlia Lithwick on this week’s Amicus for a very special conversation about the role of constitutional courts in democracy, and where SCOTUS may be veering off track. [Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosie Abella] (https://www.pbs.org/show/without-precedent-the-supreme-life-of-rosalie-abella/) Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

20 Jul 2024

1 HR 08 MINS

1:08:13

20 Jul 2024

#350

Judge Aileen Cannon Closes Trump Mar-a-Lago Classified Documents Case [Preview]

The judge overseeing the stolen classified documents case at former President Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Club has dismissed the case, ruling that Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional. This decision will likely be appealed. It’s a big swing, on a Trump trial question that’s very possibly heading on a fast track up to the United States Supreme Court. That sinking feeling is becoming pretty familiar, huh? In a special episode of Amicus for our Slate Plus subscribers, Dahlia Lithwick speaks to Matthew Seligman who had argued for the constitutionality of the special counsel last month in Judge Cannon’s courtroom in Florida. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to the full version now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes of Amicus, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

15 Jul 2024

12 MINS

12:47

15 Jul 2024

#349

Opinionpalooza: This SCOTUS Decision Is Actually Even More Devastating Than We First Thought

Administrative law may not sound sexy. And maybe that’s because it truly isn’t sexy. But it is at the very center of the biggest decisions this past Supreme Court term, and also widely misunderstood. In this week’s show, we asked Georgetown Law School’s Professor Lisa Heinzerling to come back to help hack through the thorny thicket of administrative law so we can more fully understand the ramifications of a clutch of cases handed down this term that – taken together – rearrange the whole project of modern government. The Supreme Court’s biggest power grab for a generation isn’t just about bestowing new and huge powers upon itself, it’s also about shifting power from agencies established in the public interest to corporations, industry and billionaires. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

13 Jul 2024

53 MINS

53:22

13 Jul 2024

#348

Opinionpalooza: The Supreme Court End-of-Term Breakfast Table

What just happened??? Despite going into June clear-eyed and well informed about the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, the number of huge cases before it, and the alarming stakes in so many of those cases…we are, nonetheless, shocked. The October 2023 term came to a shuddering end on Monday July 1st and Dahlia Lithwick, Mark Joseph Stern, Steve Vladeck and Mary Anne Franks are here to help parse some monumental decisions, some smaller cases with big ramifications, and what we can understand about the Justices who made those decisions for the rest of us, and the Justices who dissented. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

06 Jul 2024

1 HR 01 MINS

1:01:55

06 Jul 2024

#347

Opinionpalooza: The Supreme Court Puts Presidents Above the Law (Preview)

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority rounded out the term by gifting massive unprecedented power to commit criminal wrongdoing to presidents. A court that already put a thumb on the scale for former President Donald J Trump by slow talking and slow walking the immunity case in exactly the way he hoped, has now thrown out the scale in favor of a brand new sweeping, monarchic immunity ruling in favor of the former president and any future insurrection-prone presidents. Trump v United States provides that US Presidents may enjoy wide-ranging immunity from criminal prosecution because coups are constitutional as long as you make them official. This episode delves into the decision’s implications for democracy, and for presidential power, while also providing historical context. We also look ahead to the legal battles looming in the various Trump trials at all their various stages. What does this do to the Georgia indictments? The classified documents case? And the felony counts for which Trump will be sentenced next week? Host Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer on the courts and the law, and Professor Corey Brettshnieder, who teaches constitutional law and political theory at Brown University and is the author of the new book [The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It. ] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1324006277/?tag=slatmaga-20) This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes of Amicus, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

01 Jul 2024

10 MINS

10:58

01 Jul 2024

#346

Opinionpalooza: The Day SCOTUS Became President

While most everyone was reacting to Thursday’s Presidential debate, we had our eyes trained on the Supreme Court. It was again (surprise!) bad. SCOTUS determined that sleeping outside was illegal in Grants Pass v Johnson. They limited the scope by which insurrectionists could be charged for their actions on January 6, 2021 in Fischer v United States. The unelected robed leaders then laid a finishing blow in Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo, overturning the decades-long guidance of the longstanding Chevron doctrine and upending the ways in which government agencies can regulate the things they regulate like; clean air, water, firearms your retirement account and oh, medical care. This term has signaled something especially troubling. While you can certainly be concerned about Trump or Biden being president once again, you should be more worried about how the justices at the Supreme Court have basically made themselves the end-all-be-all of every legislative matter, regardless who wins presidential contests. It should also come as no surprise who will benefit from these decisions (rich people with yachts). Host Dahlia Lithwick speaks with Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern and Professor Pam Karlan, co-director of Stanford law school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic to go over Friday’s rulings and to break down what it means that federal agencies will no longer be able to, you know, do anything reasonable. [Listen to an interview] (https://slate.com/podcasts/what-next/2024/06/when-anti-homeless-policies-go-too-far) with a doctor helping unhoused people in Grants Pass, OR. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

29 Jun 2024

53 MINS

53:37

29 Jun 2024

#345

Opinionpalooza: SCOTUS and MAGA’s Shared Vision For Government Comes Into View

What’s this? A bonus Opinionpalooza episode for one and all? That’s right! The hits just keep coming from SCOTUS this week, and two big decisions landed Thursday that might easily get lost in the mix: Ohio v EPA and SEC v Jarkesy. Both cases shine a light on the conservative legal movement (and their billionaire funders’) long game against administrative agencies. In Ohio v EPA, the Court struck down the EPA’s Good Neighbor Rule, making it harder for the agency to regulate interstate ozone pollution. This decision split along ideological lines, and is part of a stealthy dismantling of the administrative state. SEC v Jarkesy severely hinders the agency’s ability to enforce actions against securities fraud without federal court involvement, and the decision will affect many other agencies. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out how this power grab by the court disrupts Congress's ability to delegate authority effectively. Project 2025 just got a jump start at SCOTUS, and we have two more big administrative cases yet to come, the so-called Chevron cases: Loper Bright v Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v Department of Commerce. This is shaping up to be a good term for billionaires and a court apparently hungry to expand its power. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern (of course) and they are saved from any regulatory confusion by environmental and administrative law all-star, Lisa Heinzerling, the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, who served in the EPA under President Obama. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

27 Jun 2024

50 MINS

50:23

27 Jun 2024

#344

Opinionpalooza: The Vanishing Emergency Abortion Decision (Preview)

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued two important decisions in its traditional fashion: a box of printed copies for those journalists in the press room, and furious SCOTUS website refreshing for those who were not. Murthy v Missouri was one of the closely watched social media cases of the term, about “jawboning” or when and if the government can ask/prod/urge private social media companies to moderate content in the interest of things like public health or election integrity, or whether such conduct constitutes censorship. Snyder v US concerned corruption and the difference between bribes and gratuities under a federal corruption law. Somewhere in between the publishing of these opinions, however, the court inadvertently and very briefly published what may or may not be its opinion in a pair of emergency abortion cases, Moyle v United States and Idaho v United States. The Court spokeswoman urged us all to pay no attention to the early draft. Chaos ensued. On this extra, members-only episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Mark Joseph Stern to try to get our arms around a day of big news, including the “now you see it, now you don’t” abortion news at the highest court in the land. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes of Amicus, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

26 Jun 2024

07 MINS

07:33

26 Jun 2024

#343

Rahimi and The Roberts Court’s All New, Also Old, Second Amendment Doctrine

Another major case for the “not a loss/not exactly a win” pile this term at SCOTUS. A majority of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority said what we knew all along - adjudicated domestic abusers shouldn’t hold onto second amendment rights and the guns that they are statistically, horrifyingly, apt to use to harm their intimate partners. In an 8-1 decision in United States v Rahimi, the Roberts Court looked frantically for a way to reverse out of – while still technically upholding – its bonkers extreme originalism-fueled Bruen decision from two terms ago. This week Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern are joined by Kelly Roskam, the Director of Law and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Later in the show, Mark and Dahlia look under the hood of Department of State v Munoz - an immigration case decided this week that Justice Sotomayor says is sewing seeds for the end of marriage equality as we know it. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

22 Jun 2024

56 MINS

56:14

22 Jun 2024

#342

Opinionpalooza: SCOTUS Says Yes to Bump Stocks, No to Gun Safety Regulation

A bump stock is an attachment that converts a semi automatic rifle into a weapon that can fire as many as 800 rounds per minute - an intensity of gunfire matched by machine guns. The deadliest mass shooting carried out by a single shooter in US history - the October 2017 Las Vegas massacre - was enabled by a bump stock. On Friday, the US Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era bump stock ban introduced in the wake of that tragedy, in which 60 people were killed and hundreds more injured. Writing for a perfectly partisan six to three majority, gun enthusiast and ultra conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, decided the administration had overstepped its authority enacting the ban, and based the decision in a very technical, very weird reading of the statute. On this Opinionpalooza edition of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate’s senior writer on the courts and the law - Mark Stern, and David Pucino, Legal Director & Deputy Chief Counsel of Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Together, they discuss the careful reasoning and research behind the ban, Justice Thomas’ self-appointment as a bigger gun expert than the agency charged with regulating guns - the ATF, how the gun industry used its own “amicus flotilla” from extreme groups to undermine the agency, and how the industry will use this roadmap again. But, please don’t despair entirely, you’ll also hear from David about hope for the future of gun safety rules. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) Plus listeners have access to all our Opinionpalooza emergency episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

15 Jun 2024

50 MINS

50:38

15 Jun 2024

#341

Opinionpalooza: Don’t Call the Mifepristone Case a Win (Preview)

What do you call a case where there’s no standing and yet the lawsuit is still standing? FDA v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine AKA the mifepristone case, AKA the case that tried to raise a zombie law from the dead, and will now continue to roam the lower courts in search of a national abortion ban. While the Comstock Act was not mentioned in the US Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to maintain the legal status quo on abortion pills, the overton window just got wedged open a little wider. In this Opinionpalooza extra episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discuss SCOTUS’ abortion pill decision in depth and explore the consequences of a case that was doomed to fail before even this Supreme Court, but is also doomed to return to haunt us. This is part of [Opinionpalooza] (http://slate.com/opinionpalooza) , Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining [How Originalism Ate the Law] (https://slate.com/originalism) . The best way to support our work is by joining [Slate Plus] (https://slate.com/plus) . (If you are already a member, consider a [donation] (https://slate.com/donate?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus&utm_content=nav_bar&utm_source=nav) or [merch] (https://shop.slate.com/collections/exclusive-amicus-merch) !) This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes of Amicus, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit [slate.com/amicusplus] (http://slate.com/amicusplus) to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

13 Jun 2024

07 MINS

07:04

13 Jun 2024

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