Never Mind
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Audio
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2017
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Monday, the Department of Justice announced an abrupt about-face on voting rights, essentially walking away from a lawsuit against a harsh voter-ID law in Texas. We discuss the reversal and its implications with Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She was one of the lawyers in the strange position of arguing the case in court this week, the day after the DOJ reversed course.
We also sit down with Jeffrey Fisher, who argued an important immigration-related case at the Supreme Court his week. Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions asks whether a legal immigrant can be deported for something that counts as a serious crime in some states, but not others. It also previews a question likely to play a big role in Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings: how much deference courts should give federal agencies when interpreting the meaning of laws.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to Amicus Slate's podcast about the courts and the law. I am Dahlia Lithway. |
| 0:14.0 | The Supreme Court was back in action this week, hearing cases and watching the cherry blossoms bloom in February. |
| 0:23.4 | Later on in this show, we're going to talk to Jeff Fisher, whose case before the High Court this week, |
| 0:28.4 | Esquivel Cantana v. Sessions, raises a whole bunch of important questions about deportation and |
| 0:34.0 | criminality and deference to federal agencies, all of which are about to become hugely |
| 0:39.3 | important in the era of Donald Trump. But first, we want to talk a little bit about voting rights, |
| 0:46.0 | specifically voting rights in the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. And yes, we're going to talk |
| 0:51.4 | a little about the Jeff Sessions in the Jeff Sessions Justice Department, but let's talk about voting rights first. |
| 0:57.7 | For years now, the Obama DOJ has been fighting repressive state voter ID laws all around the country, and they've actually racked up some really big wins in the courts. |
| 1:07.3 | But this past week, suddenly the new Justice Department under Jeff Jeff Sessions, did an about-face in an important voting rights case in Texas that has been bouncing around the courts for five years. |
| 1:19.9 | Suddenly, instead of challenging Texas's voter ID law, they were signaling that actually they have no problem with it. |
| 1:27.4 | And it left lawyers in Texas in the very strange position of not even knowing what the heck is going on in one of the biggest voter ID cases in the country. |
| 1:37.4 | Joining us today to talk about the sea change at the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department is Jene Nelson. |
| 1:43.3 | She's Associate Director |
| 1:44.6 | Counsel of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund. And she's one of the lawyers who |
| 1:50.7 | represents the challengers to SB 14, this infamous voter ID law in Texas. She was back in |
| 1:57.9 | court in Corpus Christi to argue this case. And, Janais, welcome to Amicus. |
| 2:03.4 | Thank you. |
| 2:04.0 | Thanks for having me, Dahlia. |
| 2:05.5 | And I should start by saying you argued on crutches, correct? |
| 2:09.3 | I argued on a knee scooter, which is, I think, a little bit of an upgrade from crutches. |
| 2:14.2 | But, yes, I have a broken foot at the moment, and my mobility is a little |
... |
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