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How Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais ran contrary to the Voting Rights Act—both as written by Congress and as previously interpreted by the Supreme Court.

Guest: Jay Willis, editor-in-chief of Balls and Strikes.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
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On Wednesday, Justice Samuel Alito delivered the latest, probably lethal blow in the Supreme Court’s decades-long campaign against multi-racial democracy in America, with a 6-3 majority opinion gutting what remained of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v Callais. In this special extra episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick talks with Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization. Nelson argued Louisiana v. Callais before the United States Supreme Court in October of 2025. Together, they examine the history ignored by the right wing majority, and look ahead to the disastrous consequences this ruling unleashes on American democracy, from school boards all the way to the halls of congress.

This episode is member-exclusive. 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.

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Democrats are starting to let themselves feel a little optimistic about the fall midterms, which is just about time for the fight between the centrists and the slightly-left-of-centrist party wings to get ugly. But a candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan is trying to sidestep another internecine fight by keeping his eye on the goal.

Guest: Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan Senate candidate, physician, former director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
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Presidential assassinations have been spawning conspiracy theories since Lincoln. But Saturday’s attempted assassination seems about as straightforward as these things can be—so why does it feel like everyone believes it was staged?

Guest: Will Sommer, author of the False Flag newsletter for The Bulwark and “Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America.”

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Money Talks: MIT professor Daron Acemoglu joins Emily Peck to explain his research into pro-worker technologies and how we can not only avoid the AI job apocalypse but also improve workers' lives by shifting the goal of AI from automation to collaboration.

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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