Bonus: Lawyer-Brained

Welcome to the Amicus Plus secret treehouse, where Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern give the legal news of the week some major side-eye. This week’s bonus episode could have had the subtitle: “The ‘Legally Possible’ Is Not Always The ‘Politically Plausible,’ But Has A Recent History of Happening Anyway” but … character limits. Dahlia and Mark respond to the response to their holiday mailbag special episode, Dear Jurisprudence—specifically, to a minor Bluesky meltdown over one listener’s fears of a third Trump term and an alleged bad case of lawyer-brain. Next, they examine why the Chief Justice’s conflation of court criticism and violence is particularly on-the-nose at this moment. Finally, why Justice Clarence Thomas’ successful flouting of a federal disclosure statute with seemingly lifelong impunity is actually a big deal. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also 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.