His model seems to be you crushed dissent, and that's how you show you're strong, and that just could not in any way more scare me for someone who's going to be the head of the executive branch.

We're not required to pretend that everything's all right. Everything is not all right. Fly the flag upside down.

Hi, and welcome to Amicus. I'm notahlia Lithwick, and I cover the court and law and justice

for slate.com.

So I wanted to start this week's show about this week's election with a big heartfelt thank you for all the letters and the emails and the texts and even one or two slightly alarming hugs from random strangers in D.C. this week, we really, really thank you for listening.

It now appears that the GOP's gamble over the vacant seat at the High Court has paid off.

President-elect Donald Trump will now get to fill that seat, a seat that's been empty for nine months, and Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will probably never get a hearing.

On our show today, we're going to answer questions listeners have been asking us by Facebook and by email

about whether there is any chance at all for some Hail Mary Garland appointment and maybe most

profoundly what the election of a candidate who has promised to alter the Constitution and the rule

of law in America in very fundamental ways might mean for the next four years in America.

Joining us first is Professor Orrin Kerr.

He's a prolific blogger and thinker at the Voloc Conspiracy.

That's this country's preeminent conservative slash libertarian legal blog.

He's also a professor at George Washington University Law School, specializing in criminal procedure and computer

crime law.

So welcome to Amicus Oren.

Glad to be here.

I think the first thing I want you to do for our listeners is sort of locate you in this

conversation around President-elect Trump and the courts because you are, I think, a

self-described small government fiscal restraint libertarian. You came out, I think, just a week ago. Oh, my God, it feels like 100 years ago with an article in the post saying why you were nevertheless voting for Hillary. Is that fair sort of positioning of you? Yeah, that's basically right. I've been

opposed to Trump from the beginning and have blogged sort of negative pieces about him for a long

...