MAGA Media Law 101
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Audio
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As journalists, a-listers, and some of the most vociferous critics of journalism from the Trump administration gather for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Dahlia Lithwick tackles the president and his allies’ tactics to chill the press and undermine the First Amendment.
In conversation with Guardian columnist and former New York Times public editor, Margaret Sullivan she explores the Trump administration’s use of meritless, high-dollar defamation suits, focusing on FBI Director Kash Patel’s $250 million lawsuit lodged against The Atlantic this week. Sullivan links democratic decline to media decline, citing oligarch ownership, consolidation, weakened local news, reduced public media, and corporate leaders’ capitulation via settlements and editorial interference.
Margaret’s newsletter, American Crisis can be found here:
margaretsullivan.substack.com/
Next, Dahlia and co-host Mark Joseph Stern examine New York Times’ reporting on leaked Supreme Court memos showing the 2016 Clean Power Plan stay as a pivotal shadow docket moment that perfectly illustrates how activity on the shadow docket is driven by institutional grievance rather than legal urgency. They also dissect Trump’s renewed attacks on the justices despite their frequent support for his agenda.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Amicus Slate's podcast about the courts, the law, and the Supreme Court. |
| 0:09.0 | I'm Dahlia Lethway. |
| 0:13.4 | A note to the press, to the press corps, to the American media. |
| 0:18.1 | We have to fight back against the fake news. |
| 0:19.9 | It's one of the many things that President Trump is so successful at in leading out on. |
| 0:23.7 | And I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. |
| 0:27.7 | It's fake, phony, fake. |
| 0:31.6 | No one is attacked as baselessly as he is and as much as he is. |
| 0:35.0 | And our leaders that get attacked under his brilliant leadership must do the same. |
| 0:39.3 | Sometimes it's hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on. |
| 0:44.0 | It's incredibly unpatriotic. |
| 0:46.9 | I called the fake news the enemy of the people. |
| 0:49.7 | And they are. |
| 0:50.4 | They are the enemy of the people. |
| 1:05.2 | Late last Friday, the Atlantic ran a deeply reported piece by Sarah Fitzpatrick about FBI director Cash Patel's unprofessional, erratic and national security threatening behavior, including |
| 1:12.7 | allegations of rampant alcohol abuse and absenteeism. On Monday, Patel sued the storied publication |
| 1:20.4 | based on a theory of actual malice that evinces zero actual comprehension of the actual law. But the legal merits are secondary, always. |
| 1:31.5 | The point is that serial frivolous lawsuits against the press is one of the ways this administration chills criticism and free speech. |
| 1:39.4 | Meantime, this is the weekend of manicures and blowouts and spray tans in Washington, D.C., as the press is a buzz with preparations for the White House correspondent's dinner on Saturday night. The whole event is getting a special Maga Spitshine. President Trump plans to be on the dais for the first time. His most favorite henchman Stephen Miller will also be in attendance, the self-titled |
| 2:01.8 | Secretary of War, Pete Hexeth, whose banned disfavored journalists from the Pentagon has also |
| 2:08.3 | been invited by the good folks at CBS, and Brendan, I'm going to pull your license, if you can't be |
| 2:13.6 | nice, Carr of the FCC is also on the guest list. This is not just about an awkward party. |
... |
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