Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Animus Amicus
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2017
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the wake of the unceremonious termination of FBI director James Comey this week, one previously unfamiliar name has dominated the news cycle: Rod J. Rosenstein. The former federal prosecutor became the U.S. Deputy Attorney General just over two weeks ago, and since then, has found himself at the center of storm around President Trump’s most high-profile firing to date. Leon Neyfakh has been covering Rosenstein for the past few weeks, and joins us to talk about whether anyone at the Department of Justice can remain neutral in these polarized times.
We also speak with University of Virginia School of Law professor Micah Schwartzman about this week’s oral arguments in one of the lawsuits challenging President Trump’s revised travel ban. Schwartzman is among a group of constitutional law scholars who filed an amicus brief arguing that the executive order violates the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.
Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members, several days after each episode posts. For a limited time, get 90 days of free access to Slate Plus in the new Slate iOS app. Download it today at slate.com/app. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.
Podcast production by Tony Field. Our intern is Camille Mott.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Rosenstein might really believe, and probably does, that Comey messed up. |
| 0:05.2 | And maybe he thought, yeah, probably this is going to be used in some political way, but, like, that's not my job to think about that. |
| 0:13.3 | It's fine for the president to make national security determinations, but he has to do it in a way that doesn't discriminate on the basis of religion. |
| 0:21.2 | And he simply hasn't done that here. |
| 0:32.0 | Hi, and welcome to Amicus Slate's podcast about the Supreme Court and all things legal, and now evidently also about postmodernism as well. |
| 0:42.6 | I'm DiLithwick. I cover the courts and the law for Slate. And as you have no doubt heard, things got weird to the Justice Department this week with the summary firing of FBI director Jim Comey, something the former director |
| 0:55.8 | learned about via TV screens in the background of a big room he was in, a report he |
| 1:00.8 | initially believed to be, of course, a prank because, as you see, postmodernism. |
| 1:07.3 | Now, later on in today's show, we're going to recap this week's oral arguments in one of the legal challenges to Donald Trump's travel ban. Remember that? But first, to this week's palace intrigue. Jim Comey was fired, it seems, either because of his investigation of the Trump campaign and its ties to Russia or not because of his investigation of the Trump campaign and its ties to Russia, or not because of his investigation of the Trump |
| 1:28.8 | campaign and its ties to Russia. |
| 1:30.9 | Speculation about what is really going on has carried so many of us down the rabbit hole |
| 1:35.7 | and back, but throughout this wild ride, one name has dominated the news cycle for days. |
| 1:42.1 | Rod Rosenstein. |
| 1:47.3 | He is Deputy Attorney General under Jeff Sessions, |
| 1:53.5 | and until Tuesday, Rod Rosenstein was probably only a household name, well, in his own household. |
| 2:00.1 | But now Slate's Leon Nafak happens to be in the room with me, and he has been writing about nothing but Rod Rosenstein for weeks. |
| 2:03.5 | So we've delighted to have you here, Leon. |
| 2:06.3 | Thank you for having me. |
| 2:07.1 | Tell us who this deputy attorney general is. |
| 2:10.2 | What's going on in this incredibly polarized world? |
| 2:13.6 | Is he the most neutral man in America? |
| 2:16.6 | He was supposed to be. He was the, he, uh, he was the subject of a |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.