Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Trump Has a Plan for the Midterms, SCOTUS May Help

On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick checks in with Protect Democracy co-founder Ian Bassin about the United States’ speedy retreat from democracy, and how lawyers seeking to protect the constitution are adapting their strategies for Trump 2.0. While Trump’s second term is following an authoritarian playbook, some courts are acting as speed bumps, while others (we’re looking at you, SCOTUS), are increasingly pickled in right-wing brine. The velocity of America’s descent into illiberalism is startling and dangerous, but Bassin argues it is also potentially self-defeating, thanks to Trump’s historic unpopularity that is growing faster than his ability to consolidate power. The two discuss Protect Democracy’s shift from a litigation-heavy strategy to combining court fights with coalition-building, and Ian outlines threats to the 2026 elections—“deceive, disrupt, deny”—including efforts like the SAVE Act and why the President’s decision to deploy ICE to stand around in airports around the country is a clear effort to normalize their presence at polling places in November. But he also stresses that overwhelming participation and public organizing are the ultimate backstops if election results are contested.

Suggested reading: protectdemocracy.org/executive-override/

Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can 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.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(4797)

Slate Money - Memestocks are Spreading

This week: Retail investors usually stick to the stock market, but many are rushing to make bets on oil futures. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss Emily’s piece about “dumb money”...

11 Apr 50min

What Next - SchadenFriday: Washington Gets TMZ’d

With Congress again out for recess—instead of, say, working to end the partial government shutdown or doing something, anything, when the president threatens war crimes—one media organization had the ...

10 Apr 7min

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Why OpenAI Bought a Talk Show

As OpenAI prepares for its IPO, the company decided to…pay millions of dollars for a tech talk show? Is this just what rich tech guys like Sam Altman are like now? Guest: Mike Isaac, tech reporter for...

10 Apr 20min

Political Gabfest - TACO Tuesday

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the state of the U.S. war with Iran including what Tuesday night's abject ceasefire means, a deeply unsettling profile of the internet...

9 Apr 1h 7min

What Next - He Made 2026's "Most Controversial Film"

An Israeli filmmaker, who returned home from abroad after October 7, attempts to capture the feeling of mourning becoming a thirst for revenge among his compatriots, in a film he describes as a “bomb....

9 Apr 25min

What Next - What Can a Senator Do to Stop Trump?

Where was Congress while the president threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight”? Guest: Senator Mark Warner, U.S. Senator from Virginia, top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence...

8 Apr 25min

What Next - Trump’s Threatening War Crimes. Will Anyone Stop Him?

Last week, the Army’s Chief of Staff, General Randy George, joined a long and growing list of high-level military officers who have been fired, forced out, or otherwise induced to leave their position...

7 Apr 27min

What Next - Trump Vs The Pope

American Catholicism finds itself at a crossroads—split between its prominent conservative representatives in the Trump administration and in the priesthood, and the more inclusive, social justice-ori...

6 Apr 27min