Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - There Is No Musk-Trump Feud Without The Roberts Court

Money talks, and sometimes it speaks as law by fiat from the highest court in the land. In this episode of  Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick delves into the impact of money on the judiciary and, eventually, on, democracy with Michael Podhorzer, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.  They discuss how the many faces of big money in America, currently personified by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, have shaped the Supreme Court and government regulations. They explore the implications of recent court decisions, the downfall of unions, and the crucial role of collective action in preserving democracy. Michael Podhorzer also writes a weekly newsletter, Weekend Reading.

This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. The best way to support our work is by joining Slate Plus. (If you are already a member, consider a donation or merch!)Also! Sign up for Slate’s Legal Brief: the latest coverage of the courts and the law straight to your inbox. Delivered every Tuesday.


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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Is the world’s population being miscounted?

Exactly how many people live on our planet is one of those difficult-to-answer questions. The UN estimates is 8.2 billion, but that’s largely based on census data, which is certainly not a perfect measure.

So when a recent study from Finland found that rural populations around the world had been underestimated by 50 to over 80%, the media got quite excited. This would be a big error - a 50% underestimate would mean the actual number of people in an area is double the number they thought there were.

One newspaper in Spain - El Mundo - did its own sums and said this meant there were potentially 2 billion more people in the world than we currently think there are.

But is it what the researchers in Finland actually meant?

“Absolutely not,” says Josias Lang-Ritter, a researcher from University in Finland and a co-author of the study.

Tim Harford speaks to Josias to figure out the right way of understanding the study.

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Caroline Bayley Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Nigel Appleton Editor: Richard Vadon

It Could Happen Here - It Could Happen Here Weekly 185

All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file. 

  1. The FDA Wants to Take Away Your Covid Vaccine, ft. Dr. Kaveh Hoda

  2. Tiananmen Remastered, Part 1

  3. Tiananmen Remastered, Part 2
  4. Governing Fertility: How Pronatalist Policies Kill
  5. Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #19

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Sources/Links:

The FDA Wants to Take Away Your Covid Vaccine, ft. Dr. Kaveh Hoda

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsb2506929

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-panel-says-covid-vaccines-can-stay-fall-access-concerns-rcna208492

Tiananmen Remastered

https://lausancollective.com/2021/communists-crushed-international-workers-movement/

https://chuangcn.org/journal/two/red-dust/sinosphere/

http://www.tsquare.tv/links/Walder.html

https://chuangcn.org/2019/06/tiananmen-square-the-march-into-the-institutions/

https://www.marxists.org/archive/brinton/1970/workers-control/

https://endnotes.org.uk/issues/4

https://libcom.org/article/utopia-rules-technology-stupidity-and-secret-joys-bureaucracy-david-graeber

Governing Fertility: How Pronatalist Policies Kill

https://www.vscw.ca/en/node/119

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203059913-9/pronatalism-motherhood-franco-spain-mary-nash

https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781438402062/html?lang=en

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15335899

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237296749_Marriage_squeeze_and_changes_in_family_formation_historical_comparative_evidence_in_Spain_France_and_the_United_States_in_the_twentieth_century  

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ypdy05jl9o

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/us/politics/trump-birthrate-proposals.html

https://www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/report/treating-infertility-the-new-frontier-reproductive-medicine 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/2/2155893/-Texas-Republican-channels-Stalin-and-Putin-to-glorify-motherhood 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dot-memo-funds-communities-marriage-birth-rates_n_679bf8d8e4b0e1faebeef9c8

Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #19

https://www.kpbs.org/news/public-safety/2025/05/19/san-diegos-highest-paid-city-employees-cops-racking-up-overtime-and-earning-over-400-000

https://www.nilc.org/resources/how-calif-dl-records-shared-with-dhs/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-detained-buona-forchetta-employees

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/expedited-removal 

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/04/nx-s1-5422248/trump-steel-aluminum-50-tariffs-double-prices

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live/trump-tariffs-live-updates-trump-and-chinas-xi-jinping-speak-at-last-agree-to-more-talks-191201181.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2025/06/02/immigration-restrictions-pile-up-on-international-students/

https://apnews.com/article/international-students-visas-trump-guidance-social-media-a1f5180ce83560aff66dd65534906697

https://apnews.com/article/international-students-visas-trump-guidance-social-media-a1f5180ce83560aff66dd65534906697

https://sahanjournal.com/public-safety/minneapolis-lake-street-law-enforcement-ice-homeland-security/

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/03/elon-musk-trump-white-house-relationship

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/elon-musk-privately-expresses-frustration-range-recent-moves/story?id=122485920

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-doge.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html 

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The Source - Tapping into the power of the protest

In recent months the United States has witnessed a resurgence of protesters taking to the streets calling for change on social, political and environmental issues. These marchers are walking in the footsteps of other protesters who fought for civil rights, labor and peace. What makes a protest successful? How can a mass demonstration lead to substantial and long-lasting change. We discuss "A Protest History of the United States" by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall.

CBS News Roundup - 06/06/2025 | World News Roundup Late Edition

Former police chief and convicted killer known as the "Devil of the Ozarks" captured after escaping Arkansas jail. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland mistakenly deported to El Salvador, is returned to the US, charged with transporting people in the country illegally. Supreme Court sides with Trump administration, allowing DOGE team to access Social Security systems with data on millions of Americans.

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Planet Money - When Chinese manufacturing met Small Town, USA

Over the past decade, politicians from both parties have courted American voters with an enticing economic prospect – the dream of bringing manufacturing and manufacturing jobs back to America. They've pushed for that dream with tariffs and tax breaks and subsidies. But what happens when one multinational company actually responds to those incentives, and tries to set up shop in Small Town, USA?

Today on the show – how a battery factory ignited a political firestorm over what kind of factories we actually want in our backyard. And what happens when the global economy meets town hall democracy.

This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peaslee and Sylvie Douglis. It was edited by Marianne McCune and Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

Read Viola Zhou's reporting on the Gotion battery factory.

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PBS News Hour - Art Beat - Jacinda Ardern on keeping empathy in politics and new memoir, ‘A Different Kind of Power’

At 37 years old, Jacinda Ardern was the world’s youngest female head of government when she became prime minister of New Zealand. She was also just the second to give birth while in office and led her nation through crises, including a devastating mass shooting and the pandemic. Ardern joined Amna Nawaz to discuss her memoir, “A Different Kind of Power," and the documentary, “Prime Minister.” PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders