The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in Trump v. Anderson, which challenges Donald Trump’s ability to appear on the ballot in Colorado. A group of voters brought the case under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars former officeholders from returning to power if they have “engaged in insurrection”; the plaintiffs argue that Trump’s participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subjects him to disqualification under the amendment. On a new episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed a strange and discomfiting threat that emerged from the right flank of the court during arguments. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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Dahlia Lithwick: Mark, I want to ask you about something that struck me only at 3 a.m. when I was trying to figure out what I thought about oral arguments. And the thing I was really clocking that we hadn’t talked about enough is the mob-like threat that emerged from some justices, like—nice democracy you got, it’d be a shame if something happened to it. By that I mean, there was this subtle threat, right? And it starts in Jonathan Mitchell’s briefing, when he says there’ll be all sorts of chaos and mayhem and violence if Trump is removed from the ballot. There was a question from Chief Justice John Roberts about how, if the court sides with Colorado, Republicans are going to knock Democrats off the ballot next. It’s there in Justice Samuel Alito’s questioning about vexatious, frivolous lawsuits that will surely follow.

I think we are so........

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