Unlock weekly bonus eps + ad-free listening

$9.99/mo or $99.99/yr after trial

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

Slate Podcasts
  • 4.6 (3.3K)
  • NEWS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1D AGO · BONUS • SLATE PLUS ONLY

    Bonus: A Whole Lotta Stupid

    In this Amicus bonus episode, co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern walk us through another week in which it seems folks from the Trump administration can’t stop themselves from stepping on rakes over and over again. But, is “Eagle Ed” Martin the only one who might actually have to give up his legal career? Plus: more on the Justice Department’s favorite (and seemingly only) client. And: a judicial opinion so vulgar, we can’t even write the opening sentence in this description. 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.

    30 min

  2. 2D AGO

    Immigration Myths and Birthright Citizenship

    Next month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara. It’s still somewhat unbelievable that the high court will entertain arguments in favor of gutting an utterly clear constitutional commitment. Nonetheless, our motto on Amicus is “legal knowledge is power,” and in this case, historical understanding of legal knowledge … is power. On this week’s show, Dahlia Lithwick interviews constitutional and immigration scholar Anna O. Law about her forthcoming book, Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship. In preparation for a lot of very bad originalist takes, Lithwick and Law discuss how immigration actually worked in the colonial and pre-Civil War eras and why the framers of the Reconstruction Amendments (including the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment) meant exactly what they said and said exactly what they meant. Law also explains how and why Wong Kim Ark affirmed birthright citizenship for children of Chinese immigrants, and emphasizes that the words “subject to the jurisdiction” had narrow historical exceptions. Finally, a reminder that the framers of the 14th Amendment chose to constitutionalize citizenship rather than establish it in statute—in anticipation of exactly the situation America finds itself in today.  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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    51 min
  3. Bonus: Elena Kagan’s Banger of a Dissent

    MAR 8 · BONUS • SLATE PLUS ONLY

    Bonus: Elena Kagan’s Banger of a Dissent

    Prepare to be ushered into the Frankenstein underground lab of horrors that is the United States Justice Department. Welcome! In this week’s Amicus bonus episode, co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discuss Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent in Mirabelli v. Bonta, and how she might be suggesting that her colleagues manipulated the shadow docket to issue an explosive anti-trans ruling. Also: Attorney General Pam Bondi wants to stop state bar associations from investigating DOJ lawyers. Is that even legal? All that and more in this week’s smokeless cigar bar. Executive Dysfunction is our brand new newsletter, surfacing under-the-radar stories about what Trump is doing to the law –– and how the law is pushing back. Go to slate.com/dysfunction to sign up. 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.

    26 min

  4. MAR 7

    Church and State are Being Reunited, Thanks to SCOTUS

    On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick explores the rise of Christian nationalism in America, its influence on the Supreme Court , and the implications for democracy and civil rights. Featuring Rachel Laser, CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, their discussion delves into the historical roots, recent legal cases, and the ongoing fight to uphold the separation of church and state in a country that survived two centuries as an open, pluralist refuge for all religions, and then became a Christian nation, seemingly overnight. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min
  5. Extra: This War is Obscenely Illegal

    MAR 2 · BONUS • SLATE PLUS ONLY

    Extra: This War is Obscenely Illegal

    Trump’s actions in Iran have massive global impacts, but they also have serious legal implications. On this extra episode of Amicus, exclusive to our Plus members, Mark Joseph Stern is joined by military law expert Eugene Fidell, a visiting lecturer and senior research scholar at Yale Law School. Their conversation focuses on constitutional constraints, the role of Congress, and the principles of international law, and emphasizes the need for Congress to reclaim its war powers. While it seems like real consequences are unlikely for those responsible for flouting these laws, there are serious implications for American democracy. Fidell explains why he’s calling for impeachment as a response to these unconstitutional actions––even if such a move is very unlikely to succeed. 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.

    35 min
  6. Bonus: Catholic Bishops are Big Mad about Birthright Citizenship

    MAR 1 · BONUS • SLATE PLUS ONLY

    Bonus: Catholic Bishops are Big Mad about Birthright Citizenship

    In this week’s Amicus bonus episode, co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern walk through a stunning constellation of court-based humiliations. First up, Judge Brian Murphy issues a powerful rebuke against the Trump administration’s so-called third country deportation policy. Next, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops files a scorcher of an amicus brief in which they make the moral and faith-based argument for birthright citizenship. And finally, just four Justices attended Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, and the President (predictably) could not resist a little ritual humiliation to their faces. Should any of them have shown up? Mark says no, Dahlia says it’s complicated. Either way, there’s one Amicus-specific silver lining to them assuming the position in those little chairs in the front row. 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.

    25 min

  7. FEB 28

    Yes, Supreme Court Decisions Really Matter

    “Not on the level” is how Donald Verrilli Jr. describes the Trump administration’s general, current Supreme Court practices. The former United States Solicitor General joins Dahlia Lithwick to discuss the ways this radical new posture is forcing judges to confront arguments and asserted powers previously seen as far beyond presidential authority, while still trying not to shift excessive power to courts by routinely declaring everything a pretext. They discuss whether Chief Justice John Roberts is at last signalling skepticism about Trump’s chaotic policymaking, whether the DOJ’s fluid relationship with facts is taking a toll on its credibility, and they debate the costs of delayed, splintered opinions in the major confrontation over executive power evident in the tariffs case. Don Verrilli also reflects on his deep and broad experience over decades of Supreme Court litigation, beginning with a clerkship for Justice Brennan in the 1980s, through his service in government under President Obama, to recent wins arguing before SCOTUS, to provide a truly clarifying perspective on the scale of the challenges facing the rule of law, and the “hard-nosed faith” required to overcome them.  And… introducing… Executive Dysfunction. A brand new newsletter from Slate’s jurisprudence team that surfaces under-the-radar stories about what Trump is doing to the law –– and how the law is pushing back. There’s always some story buried in court filings, hidden in regulatory fine print, happening in some courthouse you may not have heard of that actually matters. Every week, Executive Dysfunction will feature one story that cuts through it all, plus updates from the Slate Jurisprudence team. Go to slate.com/dysfunction to sign up. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min
  8. Bonus: Stephen Miller’s Racism Translator

    FEB 22 · BONUS • SLATE PLUS ONLY

    Bonus: Stephen Miller’s Racism Translator

    On this week’s extra serving of Amicus Plus, we’re offering a tasting menu of several different flavors of contempt from the Trump administration. First, Dahlia and Mark discuss the departure of Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin and why losing her unique brand of candor might actually be bad for the many, many pending court cases challenging DHS’s lawless rampage. Next, they discuss the DOJ lawyer who actually and for reals was held in civil contempt by a Minnesota judge. And one more scoop of contempt came up this week when a New Jersey judge ordered DOJ lawyers to investigate their own compliance with court orders. And guess what? So, so many violations! Also in “law is for suckers” land, a secret DHS policy memo surfaced by our friend, Lawdork Chris Geidner, rewrites a decades-old statute to create an infinite loop of misery in detention for lawful refugees. Finally, a little bit of stock-trading SCOTUS scuttlebutt as we hear the justices will now be using robo-recusal software to automatically flag whether they really ought to step away from a case because of, you know, a big personal conflict of interest (with many zeros after it). 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.

    23 min
See All (580)

Trailers

Shows with Subscription Benefits

Unlock weekly bonus eps + ad-free listening

$9.99/mo or $99.99/yr after trial

View Subscription FAQs

Hosts & Guests

4.6
out of 5
3,327 Ratings

About

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

More From Slate Podcasts

You Might Also Like