Amicus | How To Build A Police State (With The Supreme Court’s Blessing)

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4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the last six months, life has been upended for millions of people in America as Stephen Miller's extreme immigration policies have been unleashed. And while the first weeks of the second Trump administration saw some genuine pushback from the Supreme Court, six months in, that feint at checking and balancing has fallen away. On this week's Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick welcomes Aaron Reichlin Melnick, Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. Reichlin Melnick last appeared on the show in the days after Trump's inauguration and the initial barrage of lawless Executive Orders targeting the immigration system and the millions caught in it. Half a year into Trump 2.0, and Stephen Miller's no-holds-barred anti-immigrant plan for America, what's stuck? What's accelerated? And in light of the new budget, what's next? 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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1:05.4	I'm Dahlia Lithwick.
1:06.6	This is Amicus, Slate's podcast about the courts, the law, and the Supreme Court.
1:15.2	As you may have noticed, while the big velvet curtains closed on the ceremonial courtroom at one first street a few weeks back,
1:23.5	the justices continue to do the nation's business, evidently remotely, occasionally quite carelessly, but always, always raising the question of why they require a ceremonial courtroom at one first street.
	...

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