Amicus | Big Law Stands Up

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4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donald Trump continued his almost uninterrupted losing streak in the courts. Across the country we saw federal judges openly criticizing his Administration officials and their lawyers for overreach, bullying and misrepresentations about not only their cases, but about norms and values. But Trump has both judges and law firms in his crosshairs. On this week’s show, former US Attorney Preet Bharara joins Dahlia Lithwick to discuss the role of lawyers and law firms and legal norms in a crisis of lawlessness, and the extent to which court victories alone can save democracy. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What if a judicial order is ignored?
0:15.1	Well, if there is hell to pay for ignoring a judicial order, then it won't be ignored.
0:21.3	Hi, and welcome back to Amicus.
0:23.8	This is Slate's podcast about the law and the Supreme Court and the rule of law.
0:28.4	I'm Dahlia Lithwick.
0:30.2	This week has seen kind of equal and opposite reactions on the law to lawlessness access,
0:40.7	with the Trump administration ramping up really horrifically unlawful actions ranging from trying to shutter the Department of Education,
0:46.7	to terrorizing Columbia University, to disappearing a green card holder without due process.
0:53.5	But at the same time, judges in courts
0:55.5	around the country are handing out temporary restraining orders and injunctions, and they are
1:00.6	reinstating government workers fired without cause. Now, nobody's going to fault you for being
1:06.0	unable to keep up with all of this. That's what we're here for. And this week's guest is a longstanding
1:13.6	avatar, I think, for the proposition that the rule of law can always stay a step ahead of the
1:20.1	rule of chaos, even in really challenging political times. Preet Bharara is a former U.S.
1:26.9	attorney for the Southern District of New York.
1:29.6	He served there from 2009 to 2017. Before serving as U.S. attorney, he was Chief Counsel to
1:36.5	Senator Chuck Schumer. He now is a distinguished scholar in residence, an adjunct professor
1:42.3	of law at NYU School of Law. He wrote the New York Times
1:46.3	bestseller called Doing Justice, a prosecutor's thoughts on crime, punishment, and the rule of law.
1:52.3	He is also the host of the Stay Tuned with Preet and Cafe Insider Podcasts on the Fox Media Podcast Network.
2:01.5	Prieparara, welcome back to Amicus.
2:04.5	Thanks for having me.
	...

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