Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Trump’s Insurrection Claims Could Lead American Democracy Off a Cliff
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2025
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Troops on America's streets, threats of “plenary powers”, and extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean have prompted members of the military past and present to say that we are in the biggest civil/military crisis since the Civil War. On this week's Amicus, how SCOTUS' immunity decision in Trump v. United States helped deliver us to this scary moment. Dahlia Lithwick speaks to Yale Law School military justice expert Eugene Fidell and former JAG Maj. General Steven J. Lepper about the impossible position the military's been put in by Trump and SCOTUS and how bad that is for all of us. The Crisis in Uniform: The Danger of Presidential Immunity for the U.S. Military.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ever wondered what power is. |
| 0:02.0 | Power is transforming the sun into your own energy source. |
| 0:06.0 | Power is getting energy companies to pay you. |
| 0:10.0 | Power is enjoying your morning coffee, knowing you created the energy to make it. |
| 0:15.0 | Well, you and the colossal ball of fire in the sky. |
| 0:19.0 | Because with solar panels from Hive, the sun works for you. |
| 0:23.0 | Hive, know your power. |
| 0:25.0 | May not cover all electricity usage, roof and weather dependent. |
| 0:27.6 | Paid for surplus requires eligible SEC tariff. |
| 0:34.5 | This is Amicus, Slate's podcast about the courts and the law and the Supreme Court. |
| 0:39.7 | I'm Dahlia Lithway. |
| 0:43.4 | You've called the district judge's ruling blocking the deployment of National Guard and Oregon legal insurrection. |
| 0:50.4 | Does the administration still plan to abide by that ruling? |
| 0:55.9 | Well, the administration filed an appeal this morning with the Ninth Circuit. |
| 1:01.0 | I would note the administration won an identical case in the Ninth Circuit just a few months ago |
| 1:06.6 | with respect to the federalizing of the California National Guard. |
| 1:09.8 | Under Title X of the U.S. Code, the president has plenary authority. |
| 1:16.1 | Stephen? |
| 1:19.6 | Stephen? |
| 1:22.3 | Hey, Stephen, can you hear me? |
| 1:24.7 | If the courts uphold this idea that he also has the exclusive authority to decide when an |
| 1:32.0 | insurrection occurs, then, you know, facts be damned. |
... |
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