Clarence Thomas and the Billionaires
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Audio
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2023
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After weeks of controversy, piled upon intrigue, heaped with scandal and topped with crisis at the Supreme Court, it can be hard to get your bearings. What’s illegal, what’s unethical, what’s just a bit hinky? And what does it really mean for an institution that is about to hand down decisions that reach into every part of our lives, from justice to climate, from youtube to universities? On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Lisa Graves from True North Research. Lisa ia a veteran investigator of the dark money spigot that has been flooding the Supreme Court and rewarding some of the justices, and the causes and people close to their hearts. If you can’t see the woods for the trees, Lisa will paint you a picture. And that painting will, of course, include; Clarence Thomas, Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow and Mark Paoletta.
In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia is joined by Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern to talk about the possible end of Chevron deference the impacts for the administrative state, the Texas abortion case that is a case study in SB8 working exactly as it was intended, and why it is so puzzling that the Justices won’t rescue themselves from the ethics quagmire that’s sinking trust in SCOTUS.
Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The rules that people are asking for are not partisan rules. |
| 0:08.1 | There are rules that would apply to all judges. |
| 0:10.2 | No matter who appointed them, no matter which president chose them or whether Linnard Leo |
| 0:14.2 | had anything to do with their selection, these are rules that apply to everyone. |
| 0:23.0 | Hi and welcome back to Amicus. |
| 0:25.4 | This is Slates Podcast about the courts and the Supreme Court and the rule of law. |
| 0:29.5 | I'm Daniel Lithuic, that's my beat at Slate and I don't know about you, but I don't |
| 0:34.1 | think I've ever seen more drama around the highest court of the land than I have seen |
| 0:40.8 | in these last few weeks. |
| 0:42.9 | And this week we have had yet more revelations about judicial failures to disclose matters |
| 0:47.8 | pertaining to their personal finances and, oh, secret, spousal income. |
| 0:52.8 | And of course, we had a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that probed this question |
| 0:57.6 | of ethics rules for the justices. |
| 1:00.1 | The danger isn't that rogue justices are operating without ethics. |
| 1:05.9 | It's that Democrats aren't winning every fight and they find that reality intolerable. |
| 1:12.8 | I've been disappointed by Supreme Court opinions too, but my Democratic colleagues should |
| 1:19.8 | fill out a hurt feelings report and move on for the sake of the Constitution. |
| 1:26.8 | You're on in the show. |
| 1:28.2 | Slates very own, Mark Joseph Stern will stop by to talk about some of the issues that |
| 1:32.6 | also bubbled over this week, including the possibility that the era of Chevron defences |
| 1:38.2 | over, meaning that courts may need no longer defer to agency interpretations of their own |
| 1:44.4 | rules. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Audio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Audio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

