Amicus

The Blockbuster Case That You Probably Haven’t Heard About

Why isn’t the left talking about 303 Creative - a case that could set civil rights back by decades?

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Episode Notes

When Christian conservatives lost in Masterpiece Cake Shop back in 2018, they regrouped and picked up the trail of breadcrumbs from Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent that said this wasn’t about religious freedom, but rather freedom of speech. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in 303 Creative v Elenis - another case that takes aim at Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws. This time arguments, about whether a website designer has the right to advertise that she will not design websites for same-sex weddings, will be focused on freedom of speech. But as this week’s guest, Hila Keren, argues, excluding people from the marketplace and humiliating them in the process is not a matter of free speech, and it is a matter progressives have been largely silent about. Together, Dahlia Lithwick and Professor Keren dig deep into a case that hasn’t been given the attention its potential wide-ranging consequences demand.

In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia is joined by Mark Joseph Stern to talk about another big case - this past week’s arguments in US v Texas, including brazen judge-shopping, nationwide injunction-slapping, and President Biden’s immigration policy. Then Mark explains exactly what is - and isn’t - in the same-sex marriage bill that’s making its way to President Biden’s desk.

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Dahlia’s book  Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America, is also available as an audiobook, and Amicus listeners can get a 25% discount by entering the code “AMICUS” at checkout.

Book cover with a statue of justice depicted as a woman holding a scale, unblindfolded, on a pink field.
Penguin Random House

Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America

Dahlia Lithwick, one of the nation’s foremost legal commentators, tells the gripping and heroic story of the women lawyers who fought the racism, sexism, and xenophobia of Donald Trump’s presidency—and won

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A show about the law and the nine Supreme Court justices who interpret it for the rest of America.

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