Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Podcasts
A show about the law and the nine Supreme Court justices who interpret it for the rest of America.Get more Amicus with Slate Plus. Join to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. 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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
20 snips
Oct 31, 2026 • 48min
DOJ’s Groundwork for Midterm Mayhem
Ari Berman, Mother Jones’ national voting-rights correspondent and author of Minority Rule, examines the legal groundwork for midterm election chaos. He discusses lawsuits targeting certification, California ballots, voter rolls, and possible ballot seizures. They explore poll intimidation, weakened election security, the Supreme Court’s potential role, and a surprising surge of Black voters across the South.
33 snips
Oct 24, 2026 • 48min
Impeach Trump Y/N?
Frank Bowman, a former federal prosecutor and impeachment scholar, examines whether Trump’s sprawling misconduct warrants a third impeachment. He discusses corruption, federalism, alleged unlawful boat strikes, January 6, presidential immunity, and the challenge of framing charges. The conversation also weighs immediate impeachment against investigations and ordinary criminal accountability.
Oct 21, 2026 • 1h 6min
By the People | The People v. SCOTUS
Stacey Abrams, voting-rights advocate and political leader; Ilyse Hogue, civic strategist and organizer; and Daphna Renan, constitutional law scholar, join a wide-ranging conversation on reclaiming democratic power. They explore court expansion, term limits, Congress’s tools against judicial supremacy, civic education, creative activism, and how communities can rebuild trust and resist authoritarianism.
27 snips
Oct 17, 2026 • 40min
Trump’s DOJ Finds Yet Another Basement
Andrew Weissmann, NYU law professor, legal analyst, and former Mueller prosecutor, examines the DOJ raid targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar and the alarming use of denaturalization. He and Dahlia Lithwick explore selective prosecution, the collapse of DOJ safeguards, baseless non-citizen voting claims, Trump’s ballroom fundraising, and why state law may still check presidential impunity.
34 snips
Oct 10, 2026 • 53min
Grab Them by the Constitution
Julie Suk, a Fordham law professor and constitutional scholar, explores why waiting for Supreme Court retirements won’t repair democracy. She proposes a “shadow court” to challenge judicial supremacy, draws lessons from democracies that rebuilt after authoritarianism, and examines how constitutional structures perpetuate misogyny. They also discuss the stalled Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, and paths to more representative constitutional change.
38 snips
Oct 3, 2026 • 1h 14min
Cruel and Unusual, Bought and Paid For
Legal scholar Corinna Barrett Lain, author of Secrets of the Killing State, examines Christa Pike’s botched execution, the death penalty’s hidden violence, and the Supreme Court’s unexplained intervention. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island explores fossil-fuel influence on the Court, billionaire-funded amicus briefs, Alito’s recusal, and the case for investigations and reform.
38 snips
Sep 26, 2026 • 46min
Everybody Out of the Pool
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute, examines the White House’s exclusion of CNN, Politico, and MSNOW. He explores viewpoint discrimination, due process, dubious national-security claims, and what it means when officials ignore court orders. The conversation also follows growing press solidarity, institutional surrender, and America’s authoritarian moment.
51 snips
Sep 19, 2026 • 1h 6min
One Ballot After Another
Election-law scholar Richard Hasen of UCLA breaks down the Supreme Court’s fight over mail-in voting, election threats, and how to stay engaged without catastrophizing. Sam Sankar, Earthjustice’s senior vice president of programs, explores environmental deregulation, climate liability, and major cases involving power-plant emissions and Air Force explosions on Guam’s historic beach.
36 snips
Sep 12, 2026 • 55min
Capitulation Nation
Jacob Weisberg, journalist, author, and Pushkin Industries co-founder, discusses his book Profiles in Cowardice. He examines why lawyers, judges, lawmakers, and military leaders have surrendered institutional independence during Trump’s second term. Topics include Paul Weiss’s deal, John Roberts’ strategy, Mitch McConnell’s judicial legacy, Canada’s defiance, and the looming test for military leadership.
48 snips
Sep 5, 2026 • 1h 9min
SCOTUS Rewrites the Rules for One Special Boy
Constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, Berkeley Law dean, examines how Supreme Court procedures may shield Trump from accountability, from the White House ballroom fight to election rules and mail-in voting. Michelle Bratcher Goodwin, Georgetown professor and Ms. Studios executive producer, remembers Gloria Steinem’s coalition-building, journalism, and enduring joy. They explore power, legitimacy, democracy, and movement-building.
