Hi, I'm Dahlia Lithwick. Welcome back to Amicus. This is Slate's podcast about the courts and the law and the Supreme Court.

We are yet again in one of those Trump administration weekend, not weekend modes, in which what was once a sleepy Friday night to Saturday morning suddenly reverts to emergency bat phone calls to the U.S. Supreme Court and midnight stays, all of which

suggests over and over that John Roberts is going to play Alfred to Donald Trump's Batman.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered the Trump administration to, by midnight Wednesday,

release more than $1.5 billion in funds for

already completed foreign aid work. That's money that has been held up for weeks after Trump

ordered it halted. The Trump Justice Department went right to the D.C. Circuit, then on up to

the Supreme Court to challenge this order, claiming it would take, quote,

multiple weeks to meet the judge's request. And on Wednesday night, John Roberts issued an

administrative stay in order to give the court a few days to review written arguments in the case,

ordering that all briefing was due Friday at noon. This case may well be the first

collision between a monarchic president and a monarchic court. As of this taping, no news, but by the time

you're listening to this fast-moving story, that may have all changed. We will, of course, as ever,

bring you the analysis you need if and when

they reach the merits. I assure you that we are watching, and now on with the show.

In recent weeks, a lot of focus, ours included, has been trained on the deconstruction of

the administrative state, eviscerating USAID and CFPB and the Department of Education,

firing thousands of probationary workers without cause,

and ensuring that infants abroad will lose access to life-saving HIV treatment.

Also in the mix, an incoherent and chaotic,

what did you do last week email that went out last Saturday, continues

to torture federal workers? The non-agency and not an actual department at the helm of all this is,

...