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And by the Rachel Maddo Show on MSNBC watch Rachel as she breaks down the big headlines for the local threads that tie them all together.

It's the Rachel Maddo Show covering America when story at a time weeknights at 9 Eastern only on MSNBC.

Hi and welcome to Amica Slates Podcasts about the US Supreme Court. I'm Dahlia Lathwick, Slates Supreme Court correspondent.

And if you're a regular listener to this podcast, you know that I am a huge believer in the principle that everyone, I mean everyone, can get a lot out of listening to oral argument of the Supreme Court.

It's just not as complicated as you think it is. But this past Tuesday in a case called Montgomery versus Louisiana, the issue before the court, while it was fairly simple, was really complicated.

So complicated, we almost didn't hear about the core issue we want to talk about today.

Now, the question before the court was pretty clear. In 2012, the Supreme Court decided that mandatory life without parole sentences for juvenile killers were unconstitutional.

The issue in Montgomery is simply whether that applies retroactively to juveniles who were sentenced long before.

And in this particular case, the juvenile in question is 69-year-old Henry Montgomery who's been in jail for killing key committed 52 years ago.

We didn't talk about Montgomery or even juvenile killers much this week because the court was engaging in this battle royale over technical roadblocks.

Have a listen to Richard Bernstein, the oral advocate that was appointed to the court to explain why the court shouldn't even be hearing this appeal.

In today's case, there is no jurisdiction over that question because the point of section, 1257, is to enforce the supremacy clause.

And the supremacy clause states that when, quote, the laws of the United States, unquote, apply, quote, the judges, these are the key words, in every state, shall be bound thereby.

Confused? You're not alone.

Stay tuned. We've invited Professor Robert J. Smith, a frequent slate contributor, a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, and formerly an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Rob Smith co-authored an amicus brief in the Montgomery case along with several other notable law professors including Charles Ogletree of Harvard.

And in that brief, they essentially urged the court to consider doing away with all life without parole sentences for juveniles calling all of them unconstitutional.

So Rob Smith, welcome to amicus.

Thank you for having me, Dalia.

So let's start at the beginning, Rob. Help me make sure that I'm making this clearer and not murkier for our listeners.

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