We’re Entering the Midterms in a Dangerous Place

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. Join at https://slate.com/youtubeplus?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=link&utm_content=Amicus&utm_campaign=show_description&tpcc=youtube-link-show_description-Amicus This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. 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. Visit http://www.slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen. The Supreme Court just wrapped one of its most consequential terms in decades — and Amicus brought together three heavyweight legal experts to break down the damage. Their conversation centers on the biggest themes of the recent term: Congress has been sidelined completely; the Court is the final arbiter of all things; hubris has become the methodology, and the midterms should worry us all. Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern were joined by civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill, legal historian Nikolas Bowie, and Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck. The panel dissects a term defined by judicial supremacy: the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in Callais and Milligan, unitary executive power grab in Trump v. Slaughter, the birthright citizenship fight that never should have been argued, and a shadow docket that increasingly infects the merits docket. They trace how the Court has hollowed out Congress's power to legislate, rewritten the meaning of the Reconstruction Amendments, and applied its own rules with striking inconsistency — all while shrugging off any need to justify itself. The conversation closes with a hard question: what can actually be done about a Court this unaccountable? The panel offers concrete ideas, from congressional hearings on court reform to a new Voting Rights Act, previewing Amicus' upcoming series: By the People. Podcast produ