Oh, yay, oh, yay, oh, yay, oh, yay.

All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States are admonished to give their attention, for the court is now sitting.

The rule of law still exists on paper. They're still an FBI. There's still a DOJ. But they aren't being used for the legitimate purposes of even-handed justice.

Hi, and welcome back to Amicus. This is Slate's podcast about the courts and the law and the rule of law.

I am Dahlia Lithwick. I cover those things for Slate. And we are well into month two of podcasting from my home to yours.

And from my home to yours, we hope you are well and taking good care.

There's been a lot of legal news this week, much of it pouring out of the Supreme Court, or more accurately, the phones of various Supreme Court justices, who really made history this week with telephonic, real-time arguments in the first of ten argument sessions they have scheduled for the month of May, ordinarily

arguments end in April. So we're going to talk later in the show with Mark Joseph Stern,

who's been listening in with me at Slate, in a bonus for our Slate Plus members. So do stay tuned

or sign up so you can stay tuned for that. Friends, if you are not a Slate Plus member yet, I urge you to check it out quite candidly. These are just really tough times. Media companies are struggling and Slate is no exception. Really good journalists across this industry are getting laid off, getting furloughed, taking huge pay cuts. And I know money is tight, but you can, if you can, support Slate's vital coverage and are terrific writers and podcasters with a Slate Plus membership. You get ad-free access to all of our shows, exclusive members-only content, like our our extra SCOTUS rundown with Mark Stern.

So please go, if you can, to slate.com slash amicus plus to find out more. And really,

from the bottom of my heart, thank you. So we wanted to hear from veteran New York Times correspondent

Linda Greenhouse this week, both about arguments in the Little Sisters case and also just how weird it is to be listening in to these telephonic arguments after decades of having no such access.

So we're going to chat with her about that in just a few minutes.

But first, some

big news that needs to be addressed on any show about the law and the rule of law. On Thursday

night, the Justice Department announced it was withdrawing charges against the president's

former national security advisor Michael Flynn. He pleaded guilty in December 2017 for lying to the FBI. He cooperated with

the Mueller probe for a time and then changed his mind, fired his lawyers, withdrew his plea.

While his sentencing is still pending before a federal judge in D.C., the Justice Department

announced on Thursday that poof, they're dropping the case. Well, we're

joined by Susan Hennessy. She is the executive editor of Lawfare and General Counsel of the Lawfare

...