Category: 3-LawSometimeCommentary

Trump decided this past week that there was no downside to fully embracing the racist “shithole countries” rhetoric he denied seven years ago; but this mask coming fully off is just the latest chapter in a decades-long campaign to gut a very specific part of the constitution: the reconstruction amendments. On this week’s Amicus episode, Dahlia Lithwick talks to civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill about the critical role the 14th Amendment has played in shaping American democracy, and why this full frontal assault on its protections should have everyone on high alert. In a week in which we found ourselves toggling between “the tide is turning!” and “all is lost!” Sherrilyn expertly guides us to an  understanding of what winning looks like in this moment, and how the courts can still play a role in renewing America’s commitment to equal justice under the law, even when the Supreme Court is openly hostile to that proposition. 

Sherrilyn Ifill’s substack newsletter: Is It Too Late?

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OA1215 - We examine why the potential merger of Warner Brothers Discovery with either Netflix or Paramount would almost be certainly illegal under better circumstances before mourning the imminent loss of the independence of the one government agency which is supposed to stop this kind of thing. What exactly is the Federal Trade Commission, and why was destroying it a top priority for Project 2025? We then take a closer look at this week’s oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, in which the Supreme Court’s MAGA majority is poised to turn the FTC and dozens of other independent agencies into tools for Trump’s corruption and graft. Finally, in today’s footnote: why is an actual government website hawking the Trump Gold Card, and can the President really just make up a completely new way to give anyone with one million dollars a new path to US citizenship?

1. Trump v. Slaughter oral arguments (12/8/2025)

2. Humphrey’s Executor v. US, 295 US 602 (1935)

3. Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)

4. Rebecca Slaughter’s SCOTUS brief

5. Trumpcard.gov

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Oral arguments took place in the highly-anticipated unitary executive case, Trump v. Slaughter. The overruling of the case that seems to govern, Humphrey’s Executor, has been long expected, and indeed, the Chief Justice referred to the “dry husk” that was all that remained of that case after recent years of whittling by the current and recent Court.  However, faced with the extremity of possible consequences, the Court veered this way and that, indicating that while the direction seems clear, the destination may not be.  Fascinating intersections with other cases and theories that Professor Amar has studied and expounded over the years abound, and in our Cosell-like tour of the argument’s twists and turns, you will learn how it fits together.  CLE is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

VR16 - This week on Vapid Response: it’s the Hat and the Hammer, with the return of both New York Times token religious conservative columnist Ross Doot-hat and Newsweek editor-at-large Josh Hammer. We begin with a savory amuse douche in which a Christian influencer preaches against making policy based on “toxic empathy” before reading  Josh Hammer taking her up on the joke by explaining why the U.S. military has the absolute right to kill anyone Josh Hammer wants dead. Finally, Ross Douthat stops in from whatever planet he has been living on with some advice for the Trump administration on how to be better Christians.

OA1214 - As the end of 2025 approaches, we are finding real cause for hope in how federal courts have been handling the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on the rule of law. In the first of what will be at least two parts, Matt and Thomas speedrun through just a few of the many wins--both big and small--that we have seen in a wide range of categories.

1. Just Security’s Litigation Tracker 

2. Farewell Messages by Recent DOJ Alumni

3. “The Unraveling of the Justice Department,” Emily Bazelon, The New York Times (11/16/25)

4. Docket for J.G.G. v. Trump (Alien Enemies Act and related contempt litigation)

5. Judge William Young’s decision in AAUP v. Rubio (9/30/25)

6. Injunction blocking Trump asylum EO in RAICES v. Noem (7/2/25) 

7. Injunction blocking ICE from enforcement in certain churches in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting v. Noem (2/24/25)

8. Injunction in Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRSblocking IRS from sharing taxpayer information with ICE (11/21/25)

9. Injunction in Rhode Island v. Trump blocking EO which would have dismantled the Institute for Museums and Libraries and several other federal agencies (11/21/25)

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Kate, Melissa, and Leah are joined by Professor Rebecca Ingber of Cardozo Law to break down the blatant illegality of the administration’s murders of alleged “narcoterrorists” in the waters off South America. Then they dive into last week’s oral arguments, which featured cases involving “crisis pregnancy centers,” asylum claims, and whether internet providers are responsible for their users’ copyright violations.

Favorite things:

• Kate: This wild deposition; Disappeared to a Foreign Prison, Sarah Stillman (New Yorker), Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter’s White House slapdown
• Leah: Dunking on this nonsensical op-ed; Republican Anger Erupts at Johnson as Party Frets About Future, Annie Karni (NYT); Hands Off Chicago
• Melissa: WaySoft Cashmere Beanie; Ziwe interviews Eric Adams; Prince Harry on Colbert; Troublemaker; The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford, Carla Kaplan; Victoria (Netflix)

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While the Secretary of Defense pursues lawless boat strikes with a laser focus on maximum trolling, the Supreme Court is working to undermine voting rights with a laser focus on maximum support for Republicans. 

In this week’s episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and co-host Mark Joseph Stern discuss the news that Trump’s extra-constitutional attempt to restrict birthright citizenship is heading back to the Supreme Court. They also discuss Thursday’s shadow docket decision supercharging racial gerrymandering as well as next week’s campaign finance case that promises to unleash even more dark money in the midterms. Next, Dahlia’s joined by Malcolm Nance, former naval intelligence officer, author and host of the Black Man Spy podcast to talk through the current administration’s riding roughshod over established military law, and the very nasty history of bombing shipwrecks. 

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In this emergency episode, Leah, Melissa and Kate break down the Supreme Court’s shadow docket order allowing Texas to use racist and Republican-skewed district maps in next year’s midterms.

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 

• 3/6/26 – San Francisco
• 3/7/26 – Los Angeles

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Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

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OA1213 - Thomas is back for an action-packed Rapid Response Friday! This week: we compare the letter that just earned the former President of Honduras a pardon of his conviction for definitely being involved with narcotrafficking against the Trump administration’s excuses for murder on the high seas of Venezuelans suspected to be involved with narcotrafficking--and if House Speaker Mike Johnson actually has a point in blaming Barack Obama for all of this. Matt then takes a quick look at Steve Bannon’s petition for review of his conviction for contempt of Congress by the Supreme Court and explains how “safe third country” agreements now give ICE the power to deport asylum seekers to Central America without a hearing on their claims.

Finally in today’s footnote, Matt shares an incredible story from his week: an astonishing beyond-Kafkaesque legal argument the government has ordered his client to respond to that you will have to hear to believe.

1. “Double-Tap Warfare: Should President Obama be Investigated for War Crimes?” Florida Law Review (Jan. 2017)

2. Steve Bannon’s cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in Bannon v. US (10/15/2025)

3. U.S. v. Helen Bryan, 339 U.S. 323 (1950)

4. Matter of C-I-G-M & L-V-S-G-, 29 I&N Dec. 291, (BIA 10/31/2025)

5. Asylum Cooperative Agreement with Honduras, Federal Register (7/8/2025)

6. ACA with Guatemala, Federal Register (7/15/2025)

7. “The Night Raids,” Lynzy Billing, ProPublica (12/15/2022)

8. Juan Orlando Hernandez letter to Trump seeking pardon, New York Times (12/2/2025)

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Today on Vapid Response Wednesday: weeks after designating “Antifa” a “domestic terror organization,” the White House hosted a panel of MAGA luminaries to update the President on the not-at-all-made-up threat to the nation posed by a thing which demonstrably does not exist. We begin with a short amuse douche, in which Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn is concerned about the extremely real Portland “Antifa hit list”--a thing which definitely exists exactly as described! Matt then explains why the war on “Antifa” is a threat to all of our civil liberties before we take a seat at the Antifa Round Table.

1. The White House “antifa round table”, Youtube (10/7/25)

2. The alleged Portland “antifa hit list”

3. White House claims "more than 1,000%" rise in assaults on ICE agents, data says otherwise, NPR (10/10/25)

4. Attacks on ICE up 1,000%? Trump administration claim not backed up by court records, Los Angeles Times (12/1/25)

5. “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” NPSM-7 (9/25/25)

6. “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terror Organization,” The White House (9/22/25)

7. “Extremist File: Jack Posobiec,” Southern Poverty Law Center