You're never going to get a good deal. You're going to be a surf. 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.

Hi and welcome to Amicus. This is Slate's podcast about the law and the Supreme Court and the

rule of law. I am Dalia Lathwik. 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. Stuart served as assistant attorney general for

the civil division of the Department of Justice from 1989 to 1993. And as acting attorney general

for the Clinton administration in 1993, a job he took over from one William Barr. He's a member of

the firm at Epstein Becker Green. He is also, as I said, a founding member of checks and balances.

...