Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Last week was a devastating week for representative democracy, as evidenced by the decision in Louisiana v Callais.  This week, several states accepted the Supreme Court’s offer to gerrymander Black districts out of existence and to do so at great speeds, before the November midterms, and yes, after voting has begun in many jurisdictions. On this week’s Amicus Plus Bonus episode, Dahlia Lithwick checks in with Balls & Strikes’ Madiba Dennie on how to understand a Supreme Court supermajority that is both determined to beat back multiracial democracy and weirdly even more insistent that this has nothing to do with politics.

Podcast production by Sara Burningham and Sophie Summergrad // Video production by Micah Phillips