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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Preview: Deciphering The Lawlessness of Trump’s Executive Orders

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Slate Podcasts

News Commentary, Politics, Government, News

4.63.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Some very clear themes are already emerging from President Donald Trump’s executive orders; cruel, chaotic, and fear-stoking - yes, but also - they’re rife with shoddy drafting (is that you, ChatGPT?), sloppy lawyering, and some are wildly unconstitutional. In an extra episode of Amicus for plus members, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern begin the work of parsing a few of the many, many executive orders raining down on America in the hours since Trump assumed office for the second time.  This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

0:04.7

I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear.

0:07.3

I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute.

0:13.4

Donald Trump was inaugurated as 47th President of the United States on Monday.

0:19.3

Martin Luther King Day, fittingly sworn into office by

0:23.3

Chief Justice John Roberts, who did as much to ensure that this would happen as almost anyone in

0:29.7

government. Also, fittingly, John Roberts will spend the next four years of his life deciding which

0:35.5

of Trump's cruel and probably unlawful whims will be

0:41.1

constitutional and which will not. It's a match made, some might say, in the very belly of

0:48.0

American carnage. Many of these unlawful whims were launched into the world on Monday afternoon in a series of executive orders.

0:56.9

Some were long promised and expected.

0:59.6

The presidential repeal of birthright citizenship.

1:02.3

Some were unpopular, yet still executed.

1:05.0

Mass pardons and commutations of January 6 rioters, including those who committed truly heinous acts of violence.

1:12.8

Some were just stupid, like renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and many related to LGBTQ rights,

1:19.4

asylum, the environment, immigration, career government employees were vicious.

1:24.8

Most were lifted directly from the pages of Project 2025, the owner's manual.

1:30.5

This is all but a taste of what is coming next.

1:35.4

The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent, and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.

1:47.8

But you'll be happy because, you know, it's action, not words that count.

1:53.5

And you're going to see a lot of action on the J-6 House.

1:58.1

I see a lot of them.

...

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