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

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 cas e in court this week, the day after the DOJ reversed...

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 a...

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 th...

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 thi...

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....

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 succ...

“[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 relin...

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...

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 s...

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 th...

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 Weis...

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...

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 fe...

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 th...

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 do...

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,...

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 i...

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 po...

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!...

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 the case 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, for...

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!...

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 expl...

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 Delling...

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 retu...

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 signi...