Racism’s Over and Seashells Can Be Deadly
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Audio
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dahlia Lithwick reviews what has been an “exceptionally bad week” for American democracy. Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade explains why the charges against former FBI director James Comey, rooted in the claim that he threatened to kill President Trump – via the medium of seashells on Instagram – are unlikely to stick, no matter how hard Trump’s Acting (and actively auditioning) Attorney General Todd Blanche tries. A deleted insta post from a beach in North Carolina is just not going to meet the Supreme Court’s true-threat standard as laid out in Counterman v Colorado. But actually, landing a conviction is not the point, McQuade says –– Blanche has learned from Trump’s longstanding legal playbook that he can always win by losing. And that’s why she is also closely watching the DOJ’s indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center under a dubious fraud theory, warning that Blanche is both more skilled and more ruthless in using prosecutions for political ends, with few accountability mechanisms beyond potential disbarment. McQuade’s new book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government is available for pre-order now.
Next, Dahlia discusses this week’s devastating SCOTUS decision in Louisiana v Callais with Madiba Dennie who explains how Justice Alito and the 6-3 Republican supermajority set about hollowing out Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, inviting states to redraw maps and entrench racial disenfranchisement, all under the cover of historically distorted “originalism.”
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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. |
| 0:09.7 | I'm Dahlia Lithwick. |
| 0:13.0 | States are immediately having at it and just going ham to make use of this liberty to disenfranchise that the Supreme Court has given them. |
| 0:22.0 | James Comey allegedly threatened the life of the president of the United States. |
| 0:27.0 | 86, you know, in 80s, it's a mob term for kill him, you know? |
| 0:31.8 | Todd Blanche is not only more skilled, but more willing to be ruthless. |
| 0:36.5 | There's been a tremendous amount of investigation, and how do you prove intent in any case? |
| 0:40.7 | He has demonstrated a level of ruthlessness and a willingness to file charges, even if he's got to know they're going to fall flat eventually. |
| 0:50.8 | This has been a very bad week for American democracy. |
| 0:54.8 | Another very bad week and also an exceptionally bad week on its own terms. |
| 1:01.0 | Last Saturday night, a man from California allegedly attempted to assassinate the president and members of his administration, |
| 1:08.7 | endangering thousands at the White House Correspondence dinner. |
| 1:12.3 | Thankfully, no one was killed, but the stochastic violence that permeates American politics |
| 1:17.7 | ticked up another notch on this one-way ratchet. |
| 1:22.7 | Late Monday, what can only accurately be described as Trump's personal Justice Department filed a motion that sounded as though it had been dictated word for word by the president himself, railing against, in all caps, naturally, Trump derangement syndrome, and the fake National Trust for Historic Preservation that is currently attempting to block |
| 1:46.5 | his White House ballroom vanity project in court. |
| 1:49.6 | On Tuesday, Trump's personal law firm, formerly known as the Department of Justice, also |
| 1:55.6 | announced a second indictment of former FBI director, James Comeyy for a year old, since deleted, Instagram |
| 2:03.5 | post of a seashell formation in the shape of the numbers 86 and 47, a credible threat of bodily |
| 2:11.8 | harm to the president, apparently. And on Wednesday morning, in announcing its decision in Louisiana v. CalA, the Supreme Court took a wrecking ball to whatever remained of the jewel in the crown of civil rights legislation. |
| 2:28.3 | A voting rights act that countless Americans fought for and indeed died for. This will seed the ground for a massive |
| 2:36.7 | and historic decrease of black representation in government on the theory that the |
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