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

Dahlia sits down with Linda Hirshman, author of Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World. Hirshman recounts the two women’s rise to the SCOTUS bench and reflects on the impact they’ve had.**************Subscribe to our podcast here. Want a transcript of this week’s episode? They’re all available to members of Slate Plus. Consid...

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, Dahlia sits down with The Nation’s Ari Berman to discuss the decades-long campaign to roll back the achievements of the landmark 1965 legislation.*************************Please let us know what you think of our legal affairs podcast. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up...

Dahlia sits down with three fellow SCOTUS-watchers — Kenji Yoshino, Mark Joseph Stern, and Christian Turner — to reflect on the just-completed term and how it will go down in history. 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...

With the ink barely dry on two momentous Supreme Court decisions affecting marriage equality and health care, Dahlia discusses the history, high points, and likely impact of those decisions with Walter Dellinger, professor of law at Duke University, a Slate contributor, and the former head of the Office of Legal Counsel from 1993 to 1996.   First, Dahlia and Walter reflect on Friday's 5-4 decision...

Dahlia is joined by The Atlantic’s Garrett Epps to parse the latest batch of 5-4 decisions from SCOTUS. They included rulings on immigration, free speech, and the death penalty, and involved some strange alliances among the Justices.*************************Want a transcript of this week’s episode? They’re all available to members of Slate Plus. Consider signing up today -- members get bonus segme...

This week, Dahlia speaks with a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas about the strong stances that Thomas has been taking recently. And she asks what’s at stake in a big challenge to “One Person One Vote” that SCOTUS will take up next term. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Subscribe to our podcast here. Want a transcript of this week’s episode? They’re...

On today’s episode, Dahlia takes stock of the big whammy decisions just around the corner at the Supreme Court, and considers a few of the major abortion cases that could be following shortly on their heels. Please let us know what you think of Amicus, our legal affairs podcast. Our email is amicus@slate.com. This week’s episode was sponsored by The Great Courses. Get up to 80% off the original pr...

This week we learned that Natalie Portman will play a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a new film about the Supreme Court Justice. On this episode, Dahlia and her guests consider the recent explosion of Court-related dramatizations on the stage and screen. Please let us know what you think of Amicus, our legal affairs podcast. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments,...

This week, we take you inside the courtroom for the recent gay marriage case at the Supreme Court. Dahlia listens to highlights of oral arguments with Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, one of the lawyers who represented same-sex couples in the historic case. Please let us know what you think of Amicus, our legal affairs podcast. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Our archives, which include discussions of o...

In anticipation of big decisions on marriage equality and Obamacare, many are talking about the balance of political power on the Supreme Court. Dahlia Lithwick speaks with two court watchers about the extent to which the Justices are political actors. Please let us know what you think of Amicus, our legal affairs podcast. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Subscribe to our podcast here: https://itune...

On April 28, the Supreme Court will finally take up the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans. Dahlia Lithwick previews the cases with Paul Smith, the lawyer involved in the 2003 gay rights case that helped set the stage for this historic event. Please let us know what you think of Amicus, our legal affairs podcast. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments,...

How should the EPA weigh costs when regulating toxic emissions? Dahlia Lithwick speaks with lawyers on both sides of a Supreme Court case posing that question. And she reviews the highlights of a case testing the limits of free speech on license plates. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at http://slate.com/podcast....

Seven years after ruling that detainees at Guantanamo Bay were entitled to the protections of the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court seems to have turned its back on the remaining detainees there. On this week’s episode, we ask why. This week’s episode is sponsored by HBO. Its documentary series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” airs Sundays at 8.Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus...

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act -- King v. Burwell -- Dahlia Lithwick hears from experts on both sides of what could be the most important case in the Court’s entire term. First, she speaks with Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University and a one of the lawsuit’s chief architects. Then she hears from Abbe G...

As the Supreme Court prepares to revisit the constitutionality of lethal injection, Dahlia Lithwick speaks with two experts about the controversial drugs being used for execution and whether the capital punishment system can be repaired. 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 I...

Dahlia Lithwick speaks with Sonja West and RonNell Andersen Jones, two Supreme Court experts who don’t buy the justices’ arguments against allowing cameras in the courtroom. Help us make our podcasts even better! Take Slate's listener survey at to slate.com/survey Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructi...

Dahlia Lithwick talks to Andrew Pincus, the lawyer who brought a Supreme Court challenge this week to a law banning fundraising by judicial candidates. And she hears from the NAACP’s Sherrilyn Ifill on the latest challenge to the Fair Housing Act. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subs...

Dahlia Lithwick talks to Joan Biskupic, the author of a new Reuters study about the elite "one-percent" group of lawyers who bring most of the cases at the Supreme Court. She also hears from two of these super-lawyers -- Tom Goldstein and Paul Clement. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members...

Dahlia Lithwick talks to rap music scholar Charis Kubrin about Elonis v. U.S., and about how courts are using rap lyrics in criminal proceedings. She also hears from Sam Bagenstos, who argued this week’s pregnancy discrimination case Young v. United Parcel Service. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instruct...

With an execution looming, Dahlia Lithwick revisits Panetti v. Quarterman, a case involving mental illness and the death penalty. Her guests are Scott Panetti’s lawyer Kathryn Kase and Brandon Garrett of the University of Virginia. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple...

Fresh off oral arguments in the Supreme Court, Alyza Lewin discusses Zivotofsky v. Kerry, which asks if Congress or the President has ultimate authority over passports. Plus, Yates v. U.S. debates whether grouper should qualify as "tangible objects." Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members s...

On Ep. 4 of Amicus, a pre-election special. Dahlia sits down with UC Irvine law professor Rick Hasen, founder of Election Law Blog, to survey the landscape of state voter ID laws. They consider the effect of recent headlines on voters' confidence in elections, as well as the enduring curiosity of judicial elections in America. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.co...

On Ep. 3 of Amicus, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick talks with the New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin about his recent interview with President Obama on Obama’s judicial legacy. Then Dahlia welcomes Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer who won last year’s DOMA case U.S. vs. Windsor, and who’s now fighting for same-sex marriage in the South. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check ou...

On Ep. 2 of Amicus, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and former acting solicitor general Walter Dellinger discuss the Surpreme Court’s recent non-decisions about abortion and voter I.D. laws. Then Dahlia talks with Joan Biskupic, author of a new biography of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy...

On Ep. 1 of Amicus, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick discusses the opening of the Surpreme Court’s new term with Tom Goldstein, publisher of SCOTUSblog. Dahlia also welcomes Douglas Laycock, who argued the case of a Muslim prisoner who wants to grow a beard. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members su...