Author: Slate Podcasts

The Supreme Court has slowed Arkansas’ unprecedented rush to execute eight men in 11 days, pending a decision in McWilliams v. Dunn. At issue in the case is whether James McWilliams, an indigent defendant whose mental health was a significant factor at his capital trial, was entitled to an independent psychological expert to testify on his behalf. We discuss the case with Stephen Bright, longtime president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, who represented McWilliams at this week’s oral arguments. 

We also sit down with Norm Eisen, co-founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), to discuss the ongoing anti-corruption litigation against President Trump. Last week, CREW added two new plaintiffs to its lawsuit, which alleges that Trump’s business interests put him in violation of the Constitution’s Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses. Eisen reflects on the ethical issues of the Trump Administration’s first 100 days, why the president’s tax returns still matter, and what he believes is the single most concerning ethics violation of the new commander-in-chief.

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app.

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Podcast production by Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott.

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Newly sworn-in Justice Neil Gorsuch gets his first chance to make his mark on the Court at this week’s oral arguments for Trinity Lutheran v. Comer. The important case asks whether the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause compels the state of Missouri to provide public grant money directly to a church. Holly Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, joins us to discuss BJC’s amicus brief in the case, which argues that religious institutions are actually freer if they are barred from accepting government funds.

We also sit down with Jeffrey Toobin, whose piece in this week’s The New Yorker examines the enormous influence that the Federalist Society – and especially its executive vice president Leonard Leo – have on the American judiciary. Toobin argues that with the ascension of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Leo can now be credited with the selection of one-third of the nation’s most powerful judges. 

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app.

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 Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott.

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In 1985, eight men were convicted of the grisly murder of a Washington D.C. woman. After spending decades in prison, they learned from an article in the Washington Post that prosecutors had withheld evidence from trial that could have exculpated them. This week, the Supreme Court delved back into the details of the 30-plus year old murder case and considered whether the case should be reopened. Former defense lawyer Thomas Dybdahl is writing a book about the murder and its aftermath, and joins us to discuss Turner v. USand Overton v. US.

We also speak with legal scholar Lori Ringhand, who literally wrote the book on Supreme Court confirmation hearings. She reflects on some of the ways the process has evolved over the years, whether the so-called “Ginsburg rule” is appropriately named, and what purpose these hearings actually serve. 

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app.

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 Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott. 

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This week, the Senate held four days of hearings on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. What did we learn about Gorsuch from his 20-odd hours in the hot seat? Did the Democrats gain anything of value from the testimony? Did Gorsuch say anything of substance? And, in the end, will the hearings even matter? In this bonus episode, we reflect on the hearings with veteran political operative Ron Klain and Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern.

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app.

Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video lecture service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Follow us on Facebook here.

Podcast production by Tony Field.

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After a successful blockade of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, the GOP-led Senate will convene hearings this week on President Trump’s pick for the Court’s year-old vacancy. Considering all that has happened in the past year, how should Democrats handle the proceedings? On this week’s episode, we put that question to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

We also sit down with veteran journalist Tom Rosenstiel to discuss his debut novel Shining City, a timely thriller about the inner-workings of a controversial Supreme Court nomination. Tom describes how his decades of political reporting informed the book, and reflects on some of the parallels between reality and fiction.

Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.

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Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Follow us on Facebook here.

 

Podcast production by Tony Field.

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On Monday, the Department of Justice announced an abrupt about-face on voting rights, essentially walking away from a lawsuit against a harsh voter-ID law in Texas. We discuss the reversal and its implications with Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She was one of the lawyers in the strange position of arguing the case in court this week, the day after the DOJ reversed course.

We also sit down with Jeffrey Fisher, who argued an important immigration-related case at the Supreme Court his week. Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions asks whether a legal immigrant can be deported for something that counts as a serious crime in some states, but not others. It also previews a question likely to play a big role in Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings: how much deference courts should give federal agencies when interpreting the meaning of laws.

Amicus is brought to you by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses. Get $50 toward any mattress purchase by going to Casper.com/amicusand using the promo code amicus.

And by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field.

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In 2010, a Mexican teenager in Juarez was shot to death by a Border Patrol agent on the U.S. side of the border. In Hernandez v. Mesa, set for argument next week, the Supreme Court will determine whether the boy’s parents can sue the agent in U.S. courts. We are joined by Deepak Gupta, the family’s attorney, to discuss the case and its potential implications on American intelligence activities abroad. 

We also sit down with Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring to discuss this week’s ruling by a federal judge in one of the lawsuits challenging President Trump’s travel ban. Herring explains why Virginia joined the plaintiffs in that suit, and what the role of state attorneys general will be in the next four years of the Trump era.                                                                                           

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 here.

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A little more than a week after President Trump announced his ban on travel from a handful of majority-Muslim nations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week refused to lift a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the new rule. This week, Dahlia sits down with fellow Slate legal writers Mark Joseph Stern and Jeremy Stahl for a special off-week episode to discuss the ruling and its implications.

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 here.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Follow us on Facebook here.

Podcast production by Tony Field.

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In an elaborately choreographed prime-time ceremony this week, President Trump tapped Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court seat that has been vacant for almost a year. We sit down with the Constitutional Accountability Center’s Elizabeth Wydra to examine Judge Gorsuch’s judicial record, whether he really is “Scalia 2.0,” and the difficult choices confronting Senate Democrats in the wake of this nomination. 

We also consider the ramifications of reports that some U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are defying federal court orders around Trump’s new travel restrictions. Slate staffers Mark Joseph Stern and Leon Neyfakh tell us what they learned from constitutional law scholars about the possibility of a standoff between two branches of the federal government. (Read our Slate piece on the subject here.)

Finally, we zero in on one of the many lawsuits filed this week against Trump’s executive order. Aziz v. Trump centers on a pair of young men who were en route to join their father in Michigan when the order was issued, and wound up being deported to Ethiopia upon their arrival at Dulles International Airport. We’re joined by the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case.

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 here.

Amicus is brought to you by Casper, an online retailer of premium mattresses. Get $50 toward any mattress purchase by going to Casper.com/amicusand using the promo code amicus.

And by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Follow us on Facebook here.

Podcast production by Tony Field.

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Can a group of wrongfully-detained noncitizens sue high-ranking Bush Administration officials for violating their rights in the days following 9/11? That’s the central question in Ziglar v Abbasi, which was argued this week at the Supreme Court. On today’s episode, we hear from Rachel Meeropol of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who represented the former detainees. 

We also consider Lee v. Tam, another big case argued at the high court on Wednesday. It centers on a trademark claim by the Asian-American dance-rock band The Slants. That claim was denied on the grounds that the name was disparaging towards “persons of Asian descent.” Simon Tam joins us to tell the story of his band’s name, and to make the case that the government isn’t equipped to be deciding who is and isn’t using language disparagingly.   

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 here.

Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get the first full month FREE when you sign up by going to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.

And by Blue Apron. Blue Apron’s meal kits are delivered right to your door, and make cooking at home easy. Get your first THREE meals FREE by going to BlueApron.com/amicus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Follow us on Facebook here. Podcast production by Tony Field.

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