I think the reason that historic work is catching some people's attention is that we're

presented maybe really for the first time in American history with the president who

so often seems to act in a selfish or private interest rather than being kind of true to the

oath to act for the benefit of the public and the public good.

Hi and welcome back to Amicus. This is Slates podcast about the Supreme Court and the courts and the rule of law and

the Constitution. I'm Dylithwick and I cover many of those things for Slate and we are creeping up on the

last days of the Supreme Court's 2018 term. It's a term that's been marked by a controversial

hearing for Brett Kavanaugh and then an absence of a lot of really big ticket cases but a steady drift to

the right, a willingness to strike down precedent and in recent weeks some really interesting departures from the

standard 5, 4 left right narrative we've been using about this court. We're going to talk about all that but

first to the flurry of decisions handed down just in the past few days. I'm joined by Slates Mark Joseph

Stern. Mark covers the courts and the law for Slate and it's always a pleasure to have you here.

Welcome back Mark.

Thank you so much for having me back on. Always such a delight especially in June in our

favorite month of the year. First Mark let's talk about Friday's big ticket case. This is Flowers

versus Mississippi. It's a case we covered earlier this year on the podcast and also a case that was

the subject of the award-winning podcast in the dark so lots of folks know about it and this

essentially involves a sixth attempt by the same Mississippi prosecutor to get a conviction for a

black man accused of murdering four people in a furniture store. Maybe somewhat surprising the court

reverse Flowers conviction kicks him back for if the state wants to try him for a seventh trial

and it's a 72 decision written by Brett Kavanaugh that essentially says no no dice this is just way

beyond the bounds of what can be a constitutional jury pool. Mark is this surprising to you?

...