And Now a Word from the White House

After President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in March, there was widespread speculation that opposing his confirmation hearings could have political costs for Republican senators. But seven months later, it’s not clear how much the GOP’s continued obstructionism will matter to voters next month. On this episode, we discuss Obama’s handling of the Supreme Court vacancy with White House Counsel Neil Eggleston and Brian Deese, Senior Adviser to the President. We also take a closer look at Peña Rodriguez v. Colorado, an important case about jury bias that was argued at the Supreme Court this week. Jeffrey Fisher, who represented the petitioner, joins us to explain why blatantly racist comments uttered by a juror in a criminal trial should invalidate that trial’s verdict.  Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial here.  Amicus is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service with a large library of lectures all taught by award-winning professors. Get a free month of unlimited access when you sign up at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/amicus.  And by Blue Apron. For less than 10 dollars per meal, Blue Apron delivers meal kits right to your door to make cooking at home easy. Get your first THREE meals FREE by going to BlueApron.com/amicus. Subscribe to our podcast here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is [email protected]. Follow us at Facebook here.  Podcast production by Tony Field. Panoply Survey We want you to tell us about the podcasts you enjoy, and how often you listen to them. So we created a survey that takes just a couple of minutes to complete. If you fill it out, you'll help Panoply to make great podcasts about the things you love. And things you didn’t even know you loved.  To fill out the survey, just go to www.megaphone.fm/survey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices