I think that all of the substantive questions have to be about legitimacy.

I got to say, like, as an African American, not having the courts to rely on is nothing new.

Hi, and welcome back to Amicus. This is Slate's podcast about the courts and the law and the rule of law, Supreme Court.

Thank you all so much for sticking with us through a lot of shows this week.

It's a week that has been sad and enraging and frustrating and alarming in about

equal measure. Well, Donald Trump will name a successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday,

and no matter who that person is, he's told us, they will devote themselves to reversing much of her legacy at the court.

Also, no matter who that person is, Mitch McConnell has told us he already has the votes to confirm her.

So what are Democrats going to do about that in the Senate? Well, we said last show that we would be

bringing the sound and the fury to this

conversation. So buckle up for a discussion about, well, at least metaphorically, burning some

stuff down, joining us to talk about arcane Senate procedures, tricky confirmation tactics,

and the prospect of court reform are Mark Joseph Stern, he covers the courts and the law for Slate, and Elie Mstahl, who covers the courts, the criminal justice system, and politics at the nation.

Now, later on in this show, Slate Plus members will have access to a conversation about what in the

what is happening with these several hundred election and voting rights lawsuits all around

the country. In particular, we're going to focus on what we should maybe be worrying about in

Pennsylvania. So if you want to hear that and you don't have a Slate Plus

membership, check out how to join and all the benefits that you will reap at slate.com

slash amicus plus. You will also be helping support the journalistic work that we are doing

at this time and we thank you. But first, to that metaphorical conflagration

with Mark and Ellie, welcome. Howdy. Chaining yourself to the Senate floor isn't arcane. It's

actually quite low tech. There you go. Let's just jump right in, shall we? I mean, I guess the nominee is going to be named. We don't know who it is. Does it matter who he names? And I guess if it matters, we can talk about them. Mark, you want to go first? Yeah, it absolutely doesn't matter who he names because we already know why he has selected this individual.

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