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What Next - Why Is ICE Masked Up? Jun 30, 2025

Show notes

ICE agents have begun concealing their identities in masks and plainclothes while making arrests. Experts—including a former ICE official—say that endangers those agents, and violates the trust between law enforcement and the citizenry.

Guests:

Philip Bump, columnist for the Washington Post

Scott Shuchart, ICE’s Assistant Director for Regulatory Affairs and Policy Counselor to the Director, 2022–2025.

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Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - The FTC’s Merger Shakedown Jun 29, 2025

Show notes

Under a normal administration, a merger between two large advertising firms might attract the government’s interest for anti-monopoly reasons. Under this one, the Federal Trade Commission is creating conditions to…ensure that X still gets advertiser dollars?

Guest: Kate Conger, technology reporter for the New York Times.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - “No Right Is Safe” Jun 28, 2025

Show notes

The cataclysmic opinions from SCOTUS on Friday certainly suggest that the courts can no longer save us. In fact, in Trump v. CASA., we learned that it’s somehow not actually the job of the courts to save us from blatant violations of our rights. With universal injunctions drop-kicked and district court judges sidelined, it’s going to be nearly impossible to vindicate your rights in Trump’s America. No rights are safe when the only way to get relief is to sue the government yourself.

And yet in a definitely-not-planned-last-day-of-the-term-with-all-the-big-cases lineup, several other bad things happened as well. Hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discuss all of Friday's big decisions including Mahmoud v. Taylor, which will allow parents to opt-out of having to hear about LGBTQ+ people in schools.

This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. The best way to support our work is by joining Slate Plus.

By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also 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.

Also! Sign up for Slate’s Legal Brief: the latest coverage of the courts and the law straight to your inbox.

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.

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Slate Money - Megayacht Foam Parties Are In Jun 28, 2025

Show notes

This week: Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary in the race for New York City mayor. Felix Salmon, Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the alarmist reactions from business leaders to the Mamdani’s win and why he’s hardly the threat to capitalism they make him out to be. Then, Trump has turned his sights on Jay Powell once again, threatening to prematurely name his successor for Fed Chair. The hosts break down why this “shadow chair” tactic is unlikely to work. And finally, mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos is finally marrying his beloved Lauren Sanchez in an over-the-top, star-studded wedding in Venice. Whatever happened to stealth wealth and quiet luxury?

In the Slate Plus episode: The MAGA Blue Collar Obsession

Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - The Other Iran-Israel War Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

In addition to the three-dimensional war of bombs and missiles, Iran and Israel—and the US—are squaring off in a cyber battle. With everything from water infrastructure to banking connected to the internet in some way, how much damage can cyberattacks do?

Guest: Maggie Miller, POLITICO cybersecurity reporter

Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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Political Gabfest - Let’s Plunge, New York Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

This week, Emily Bazelon and guest hosts Ruth Marcus and James Forman discuss Trump’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities with guest Steven Cook from the Council on Foreign Relations, Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary, and an astonishing whistleblower report that sheds incriminating light on Trump’s judicial nominee Emil Bove and defiance of court orders in deportation flight cases.

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily Bazelon and guest hosts Ruth Marcus and James Forman discuss how Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s approach differs from the other liberal Justices and her ferocious critiques of the Roberts Court’s processes and opinions.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, David talks with author Alison Bechdel about her new book, Spent.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Research by Emily Ditto

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What Next - Zohran Mamdani’s Former Boss Weighs In Jun 26, 2025

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How Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani upset the better-connected, better-funded, better-known candidate in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary—and how he might actually govern if he makes it into office.

Guest: Ross Barkan, contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine columnist, and Editor-in-Chief of The Metropolitan Review.

Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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What Next - Even This Senator Had No Warning About Iran Jun 25, 2025

Show notes

When news broke that the United States had bombed Iran, members of Congress—the only people who can authorize war according to the Constitution—found out at the same time as the rest of us. What can they do to wrest this authority back; and where is this war with Iran headed now?

Guest: Mark Warner, Democratic Senator from Virginia and Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Sneak Preview: The Supreme Court's Worst Move Since Trump Returned to Office Jun 24, 2025

Show notes

In this member-exclusive Opinionpalooza episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and co-host Mark Joseph Stern discuss the Supreme Court's shadow docket decision in the case of DHS vs. DVD, which allows for the deportation of migrants to third countries without due process or notice, despite the potential for torture and death. The Supreme Court's majority chose the opaque system of an unsigned, unargued, unbriefed and unreasoned order to issue a body-blow to the rule of law, undermining lower court rulings and Congressional statutes, specifically the Convention Against Torture. Dahlia and Mark discuss the Supreme Court’s accelerating trend of granting sweeping powers to the executive branch without proper justification, all while the Trump administration continues its pattern of defying lower court orders. Not great! Also not great? A brand new whistleblower report from a former rising star at the Department of Justice, claiming that Trump judicial nominee and current senior DoJ official, Emil Bove, deliberately ordered subordinates to defy court orders.

This is a member-exclusive bonus episode, part of Amicus’ Opinionpalooza coverage of the end of the Supreme Court term. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock weekly bonus episodes of Amicus—you’ll also 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.

If you are already a member, consider a donation or merchAlso! Sign up for Slate’s Legal Brief: the latest coverage of the courts and the law straight to your inbox. Delivered every Tuesday.

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What Next - The Lawsuit Scaring Protesters Jun 24, 2025

Show notes

A jury recently found Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages to the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline for its role in the Standing Rock protests.

But the ramifications extend far beyond Greenpeace. As protests against various Trump administration policies heat up across the country, what does this lawsuit say about how opponents can weaponize the courts to criminalize protesters?

Guest: Alleen Brown, independent investigative reporter, editor at Drilled

Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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