You're never going to get a good deal.

You're going to be a serf.

You're going to be subjugated forever.

If we trend towards an authoritarian government, we want a government of the people.

And that's what the framers had in mind.

And it really matters.

It's not just an abstraction.

Going forward, we need to recognize that a politics of inclusion, positivity, and abundance,

if it can allow a blind Iranian-American to win statewide, then there's much more that we can do

throughout the country.

Music statewide, then there's much more that we can do throughout the country. Hi, and welcome to Amicus.

This is Slate's podcast about the law and the Supreme Court and the rule of law.

I am Dahlia Lithwick.

I cover those things for Slate.

And you would be forgiven if this weekend you are feeling a bit as though all those things are just a blur in the window of a speeding train. But that's why we're here. Later on in the show, we will talk to Cyrus Habib. He is the lieutenant governor of Washington State. And we're going to hear from him about reasons, believe it or not, to be optimistic about the law and the Constitution in October of 2019.

But our first guest this week is one of several very prominent conservative lawyers who have helped form a coalition seeking to check what they deem illegal and unconstitutional behavior by the president.

That group called checks and balances, recently issued a statement calling for, quote, an expeditious impeachment probe

into President Trump. This week, the president obliged by calling folks like them and other

never-trumpers, quote, human scum.

Stuart Gerson was also on the winning side this past month of a big lawsuit challenging the president's authority to build a border wall, and we wanted to talk to him about that

as well.

Stewart served as Assistant Attorney General for the civil division of the Department of Justice from

...