Trying To Undo A Coup, In The Courts

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Slate Podcasts

News Commentary, Politics, Government, News

4.6 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

DOGE is running wild in the District of Columbia. Chaos reigns supreme. Trump 2.0 has been frightening and it’s all been happening so fast. But there are lots of people fighting back, as they try to slow the damage. And the courts are exactly where the pushback has been most fierce. One of the teams of people leading the charge includes former Judge Nancy Gertner, one of the many legal professionals suing the Trump administration. Judge Gertner's case is about the list of rank and file FBI agents threatened with retribution and the public disclosure of their names, because they did their jobs and prosecuted January 6th cases. Gertner is involved with a slew of cases from the State Democracy Defenders Fund. She talks with host Dahlia Lithwick about the many wins against the administration in court this past week, and whether they matter. Next, Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern joins Dahlia to update us on the DOGE litigation and the Birthright Citizenship cases. Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:01.6	Hello, I'm Dahlia Lithwick, and this is Amicus, Slate's podcast about the courts,
1:06.3	the law, and the Supreme Court.
1:09.5	It has become ever more apparent that to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment
1:16.4	to his policy goals.
1:20.1	The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore,
1:25.5	whether that be for political or personal gain.
1:28.9	Nevertheless, in this courtroom and under my watch, the rule of law is a bright beacon which I intend to follow.
1:40.5	It is hard to express how truly horrifying the week's events have been in the bloodless language of the nuts and bolts of democratic governance, the agencies, the agents, the federal workers, 40% of whom are people of color, and the contracts and the recipients of funding.
1:57.8	But the United States is in the throes of a constitutional collapse that is a function
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