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The Al Franken Podcast

Dahlia Lithwick on The Godawful SCOTUS Term

The Al Franken Podcast

The Al Franken Podcast

Government, Progressive, Politics, Senate, Liberal, Senator, Minnesota, Franken, News, Saturday Night Live, Comedy, Snl

4.67.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Another devastating term of Trump's Supreme Court has come to a close. There's a lot to be angry about, so we're joined by Dahlia Lithwick, our authority on all things SCOTUS and host of Slate’s podcast, Amicus.

Dahlia explains how this Supreme Court is using the "shadow docket" to advance bad policy without full briefings or arguments and how the results of these decisions can lead to judicial chaos.

We also discuss many of the awful decisions handed down by The Court, including those on birthright citizenship, healthcare for trans children, and religious exemptions for parents who don’t want their kids reading books that feature LGBTQ+ characters. (YIKES!)

All in all, The Court is strengthening executive authority under Trump, which is leading us towards full-blown authoritarianism.

LISTEN to Dahlia's podcast, Amicus:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts/id928790786

READ Dahlia in Slate:
https://slate.com/author/dahlia-lithwick 

Transcript

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0:00.0

The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be

0:06.8

wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain

0:13.0

that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching

0:18.7

their peak in the afternoon.

0:23.0

Not in the mood for miserable weather?

0:25.6

Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.

0:28.7

Sun Express, nonstop sunshine.

0:44.3

Hey everybody, we got a terrific yet disturbing one today because the great Dahlia Lithwick is back to give us an overview of the Supreme Court's term.

0:52.1

Dahlia is a host of Slate's podcast, Amicus, and part of our pantheon of all-time favorite guests.

0:56.8

Now, the Supreme Court wrapped up at the end of June, and they're in recess until early October, so when Dolly and I taped this interview earlier this week, I figured

1:03.1

we'd be able to cover everything and keep it up to date for you all. But as it goes, three

1:09.6

notable legal decisions have come out in the past few days,

1:13.1

and I wanted to do my best to share those with you. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court gave the Trump

1:20.2

administration permission to fire tens of thousands of federal employees without involving Congress,

1:26.5

lifting a lower court's order.

1:28.0

Now, this decision is technically temporary, so a lower court could later find that Trump abused

1:34.6

that authority, but the Supreme Court seemed intent on handing the presidency more and more power.

1:41.1

So in the meantime, the administration gets to keep slashing the agencies

1:45.4

that keep our government running and serving Americans. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld

1:52.2

the lower court's ruling that Florida cannot enact criminal laws to prosecute unauthorized

1:57.6

migrants who enter the state. The court did not release an opinion alongside

2:02.5

the ruling, but it's my guess that they believe it's a federal government's responsibility

...

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