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

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Professor Melissa Murray of NYU Law School, who gave blistering testimony at the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings last week. They talk Roe v Wade, when precedent counts and when it doesn’t, and what the likely confirmation of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Courts means for reproductive rights writ large. Plus, Dahlia Lithwick shares highlights from an on-stage conversation between her and Justice Elena Kagan this past week, where they covered division in the court and in the country, how Chief Justice Roberts steers the court through choppy waters, and civility.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.Podcast production by Sara Burningham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Student activism is back in America’s schools. Young people mobilizing around gun safety and social justice issues are heading back to school. We talk to Mary Beth Tinker, who took her fight for the right to protest at school all the way to the Supreme Court back in 1969. And we hear from noted First Amendment scholar Geoffrey R. Stone of the University of Chicago Law School, who tells us what rights students have to raise their voices—or wear t-shirt slogans—in schools today. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You Don’t Own Meis Orly Lobel’s fascinating examination of a landmark legal battle between plastic dolls. The Mattel v MGA, Barbie v Bratz case exposed questions about gender, culture and rights in the workplace. This episode of Amicus takes you inside a case involving corporate espionage, intellectual property, and icons of American girlhood.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.Podcast production by Sara Burningham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Amicus’ summer of exploring great legal writing continues this week with Jeff Rosen, whose biography of William Howard Taft reveals a president who was scrupulous in observing constitutional boundaries, and much happier on the bench than in the White House. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first of a series of deep dives into great legal reads this summer, Dahlia Lithwick talks with Rick Hasen, author of “The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption” about civil discourse, rock star justices, and what Justice Scalia would have thought of President Trump. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.Podcast production by Sara Burningham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Dahlia LIthwick talks with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, about what we can expect over the next several months as Donald Trump nominates a new associate justice to the Supreme Court. He talks about why Democrats must care more about the Supreme Court, the danger of dark money, and the frustration of confirmation hearings.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Podcast production by June Thomas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court’s 2017 term ended with some blockbuster opinions and, most dramatically, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement. On a special edition of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate legal writer Mark Joseph Stern and University of California, Irvine, law professor Leah Litman to discuss what it all means. Yes, it's a Supreme Court Breakfast Table without a Breakfast Table!Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Podcast production by June Thomas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dahlia Lithwick takes a close look at the two big voting rights cases decided by the Supreme Court earlier this week with Paul Smith who argued for the plaintiffs in the Wisconsin political gerrymander case Gill v. Whitford. On Monday, the court sent Gill back to the lower courts based on the theory that the plaintiffs had no standing. In the other case, Benisek v Lamone, which involved a Maryland gerrymander, the Justices delivered an unsigned opinion sending Benisek back saying it was too soon to decide. And we take a look at the implications of the court’s earlier decision on Ohio voter purges, a case that was also argued by Paul Smith.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.Podcast production by Sara Burningham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dahlia Lithwick moderates a discussion of civil rights and legal norms in the Trump era with the ACLU’s David Cole, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Vanita Gupta, former White House chief ethics counsel under President George W Bush, Richard Painter, and former US attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Joyce White Vance.Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.Podcast production by Sara Burningham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An epic Amicus this week, with a  thorough analysis of Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission with Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern. What does is tell us about Justice Anthony Kennedy’s plans, and can it tell us anything about the travel ban case? Then Dahlia Lithwick speaks with one of her heroes, the Rev. William Barber, about how progressives ceded the language of faith, morality,  and the Constitution—and how they are reclaiming it. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.Podcast production by Sara Burningham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices