You know, it's not that the arguments changed.

It's also not that the Supreme Court somehow got way more liberal.

You know, what changed was the world changed?

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

I'm Dahlia Lithwick.

I cover the courts for Slate, and this coming week brings the opening of the 2017 term at the highest court of the land.

This is a term that promises to be one of the most consequential we've seen in a long, long time.

On the docket, we have cases that will

determine the future of our voting rights, partisan gerrymanders, class action lawsuits,

the civil rights of gay couples, the president's travel ban, future of public sector unions,

and more. So, at a speech last month, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg used the word

momentous to describe what's coming down the pike.

And I don't think she was exaggerating.

So it is with some delight that this week we turn to David Cole.

He's the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union and I think the busiest man in America.

And he's here with us to preview some of these cases and to give us a little bit of a sense of the state of civil liberties in the country in Trump's America.

Of the cases on the terms docket so far, the ACLU is already involved in five. That number is likely to grow.

And David's fantastic book, Engines of Liberty, The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law is just now out in paperback.

It serves as a bracing reminder that the courts alone do not make law.

We help them.

So, David, it is a joy to welcome you to the podcast.

Thanks for having me, Dahlia.

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