The Brian Lehrer Show

The trial of George Zimmerman, who killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in February 2012, begins this week. The prosecution is arguing that Zimmerman's actions were out of malice; Zimmerman's lawyers argue self-defense. Jami Floyd, legal analyst and sometime guest host for The Brian Lehrer Show, discusses the juror selection process and Monday's opening arguments.

Stephen Levin, New York City Councilmember from the 33rd District, talks about what is going on at Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. 

Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant, discusses her Atlantic story in which she posits that the decline in fertility over the course of a woman's 30's has been oversold.

Amir Ahmad Nasr, blogger and author of My Isl@m: How Fundamentalism Stole My Mind - and Doubt Freed My Soul (St. Martin's Press, 2013), explains how the wide world of the internet helped him see outside the religious fundamentalist bubble in which he was raised.

The Supreme Court has ruled in several key cases today: Most notably, the court has struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which sets the formula that determines whether certain parts of the country with a history of racial discrimination need to get federal "preclearance" before enacting voting changes. It is now up to Congress to develop a new formula, which has existed since the 1960s. In the case of "Adoptive Couple vs. Baby Girl" the court rules in favor of the adoptive parents, and that the Indian Child Welfare Act does not provide enough legal standing for the biological father to claim custody. Slate's Emily Bazelon discusses the rulings. And Tim Howard of Radiolab -- who reported on "Adoptive Couple vs. Baby Girl" -- explains that ruling. Get Up To Speed on the Key Decisions: Our SCOTUS Reading List Still to Be Decided The Same-Sex Marriage Cases: -- Hollingsworth vs. Perrry: Challenges Prop. 8, which amended the California state constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. -- Windsor vs. United States: Challenges the federal definition that marriage — and the associated benefits — is between a man and a woman. USA Today Primer | WNYC Breakdown | United States v. Windsor (Scotus Blog) | Holligsworth v. Perry (Scotus Blog) The Voting Rights Act Case: On Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which mandates that certain parts of the country get “preclearance” from the federal government before making election law changes. Primer from The Root | Heritage's Shelby 101 | Shelby County v. Holder (Scotus Blog) The Indian Adoption Case On whether an unwed biological father, who initially renounced his custodial rights to his daughter, can rely on a federal law – the Indian Child Welfare Act – to block her adoption by the couple who had cared for her since birth. Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (Scotus Blog) | "Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl" (Radiolab) Already Decided The Affirmative Action Case (Decided Monday):  A white plaintiff, denied admission, claims that University of Texas’s policy of taking race and class into account when admitting students constitutes racial discrimination. Court ruled to send the case back to the lower court. Fisher Opinion (PDF) | Analysis from Geoffrey Stone | WNYC Explainer | Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (Scotus Blog) | Sherrilyn Ifill Op-Ed (NYTimes) | Valerie Strauss Response to Iffil (Washington Post) The Workplace Discrimination Case (Decided Monday) Court issues a pro-business decision that claims workplace discrimination under Title VII of the voting rights act only counts in cases where a supervisor has hiring and firing power over an employee. Vance Opinion (PDF) | Analysis from Geoffrey Stone | NPR Recap | SCOTUSBlog Info The Voter Registration Case (Decided Last Week): Read the Decision | More on Arizona vs. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (Scotus Blog) The Gene Patenting Case (Decided Last Week): Noah Feldman's Analysis | The Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. | Full Opinon (PDF)

This morning, the Supreme Court announced opinions on a few key cases, including: In the affirmative action case Fisher vs. University of Texas, the court will send the case back to a lower court. SCOTUSBlog reports that this indicates "the majority seems to reaffirm that diversity is a compelling interest if only because that rule was not challenged by the plaintiffs in the case." The court announced that it will hear a case this Fall about the constitutionality of President Obama's recess appointments. Several pro-business rulings on the scope of the Civil Rights Act when it comes to workplace harassment. We discuss the rulings and the impact with University of Chicago's Geoffrey Stone. Get Up To Speed on the Key Decisions: Our SCOTUS Reading List The Affirmative Action Case (Decided Today):  A white plaintiff, denied admission, claims that University of Texas’s policy of taking race and class into account when admitting students constitutes racial discrimination. Fisher Ruling (PDF) | WNYC Explainer | Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (Scotus Blog) | Sherrilyn Ifill Op-Ed (NYTimes) | Valerie Strauss Response to Iffil (Washington Post) The Voter Registration Case (Decided Last Week): Read the Decision | More on Arizona vs. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (Scotus Blog) The Gene Patenting Case (Decided Last Week): Noah Feldman's Analysis | The Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. | Full Decision (PDF) The Same-Sex Marriage Cases: -- Hollingsworth vs. Perrry: Challenges Prop. 8, which amended the California state constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. -- Windsor vs. United States: Challenges the federal definition that marriage — and the associated benefits — is between a man and a woman. USA Today Primer | WNYC Breakdown | United States v. Windsor (Scotus Blog) | Holligsworth v. Perry (Scotus Blog) The Voting Rights Act Case: On Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which mandates that certain parts of the country get “preclearance” from the federal government before making election law changes. Primer from The Root | Heritage's Shelby 101 | Shelby County v. Holder (Scotus Blog) The Indian Adoption Case: Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (Scotus Blog) | "Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl" (Radiolab)

Philip Mudd, former deputy director of the Counterterrorism Center at the CIA and of the national security branch of the FBI, current research fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of Takedown: Inside the Hunt for Al Qaeda, talks about how the White House, the State Department and the national security agencies worked together.

NSA leaker Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong and is reportedly headed for asylum in Ecuador (via Cuba). Meanwhile, the conversation over the impact of the surveillance tactics employed by the US government continues, including a heated exchange over the role of journalists on Meet the Press yesterday (see video below). Plus: an immigration bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate this week, but the arguing over border security provisions may hold up its passage or stall it in the House. Molly Ball, political reporter for The Atlantic, discusses the latest news out of Washington.

Kristin McDonough, director of the NYPL's Science, Industry and Business Library, Robyn Saunders, career coach at the Career and Education Information Service at the Bronx Library Center, and Jesse Montero, coordinator of Information Services at the Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons at Brooklyn Public Library and manager of their Information Commons, talk about the library-based resources for job seekers and entrepreneurs and answer listener questions. → NYC Neighborhood Library Awards nomination form here! (Survey Guidelines)

John Schaefer, host of WNYC's Soundcheck, discusses the summer music season and helps us celebrate Make Music NY day by convening an on-air caller orchestra. Update: We found our orchestra! The performers were: Piano: Annbritt DuChateu | Website Harmonium: Christian Montegut Whistling: Hakim Mutlaq Saxaphone: Dan Lipsitz | Website for his band Lusitania and special thanks to listener Joanne Weaver for being on vocal stanby And thanks to all the other musicians who contacted us. Calling All Musicians! Want to Join the On-Air Quartet? Today is Make Music New York Day – and we want to get in on the fun with the first ever Brian Lehrer Show on-air orchestral quartet. We’re looking for four musicians to join us at 11:40 to play a version of “Summertime.” Any instrument can audition – kazoo, saxophone, whistling, singing…. If you know summertime, and want to join in, email blshow@wnyc.org and put “Make Music” in the subject line and tell us how to reach you over the phone. We’ll be back in touch with four of you and send you a little more information about the quartet. Here's the version of Summertime we'll be playing.

Danielle Ofri, attending physician at Bellevue Hospital, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Bellevue Literary Review and the author of What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine (Beacon Press, 2013), makes the case that for the best patient care, the emotions of doctors should be explored and understood rather than kept in check. Excerpt: What Doctors Feel by Danielle Ofri, MD The Doctor Can’t See You Now   Ethnic differences are but one example of cultural divides between doctors and patients. Another cultural divide—arguably far vaster—turns up in the context of illnesses that are perceived to be self-induced. Doctors have notorious contempt for alcoholics, drug addicts, and morbidly obese patients, and they often make little effort to conceal it. By unspoken rules, these patients are considered fair game for jokes by medical personnel at all levels. Hospital slang for such patients reflects not just disgust but also anger and resentment. It’s not uncommon to hear an obese patient referred to as a beached whale, or a homeless alcoholic called a shpoz or dirtbag.   Physicians are the products of an educational system that demands years of self-discipline and delayed gratification. Despite the knowledge that addiction and obesity have at least some biological components, many doctors still unconsciously—and often consciously—view these conditions as purely a result of sloth, self-indulgence, greed, malingering, and apathy. Respect and appreciation for the ravages of these illnesses—especially when the patients themselves often appear not to—is more than some physicians can muster.   There’s no doubt that patients with addictions are probably the most difficult type of patients to work with. Beyond the biologic components of their illnesses, these patients are often saddled with complex overlays of depression, childhood mistreatment, sexual abuse, socioeconomic ills, and personality disorders, not to mention a fragmented medical system with meager options for treating addiction.   Whatever inroads a doctor, therapist, program, or the patient herself might make is handily inundated by the multitude of counterforces that seem to conspire against successful treatment. It’s no wonder that doctors-in-training rapidly assume a nihilist attitude toward addicts and invest as little as possible in their care.   The residents and students that we train at Bellevue Hospital see so many alcohol (ETOH, or ethanol) withdrawal patients that these cases cease to have any individuality. If the admitting diagnosis is ETOH WD, the team typically takes a cursory history and then just dials up the benzodiazepines until the shakes subside. The days are counted until the patient can walk steadily and thus be discharged. Attempts at drug-rehabilitation referrals are halfhearted at best. Empathy is in short supply.   It’s not hard to see why otherwise conscientious and empathic young doctors behave this way. The ETOH-WD patients are typically surly, smelly, and demanding. Nearly all of them march right out of the hospital to their next drink and then get readmitted two weeks later. Many of these patients sport records of multi-city tours of rehabs, all of which seem to have amounted to nothing. Quite a few are skilled manipulators for oxycodone and Valium. Many have managed to obtain public assistance or disability but appear to do nothing but drink or take drugs. It is easy for doctors—who usually approach life with a pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps attitude—to become resentful and disgusted by these seemingly parasitic, self-serving moochers.   John Carello was one such patient I took care of several years ago. The resident on my team announced our new admission by drily stating that this was Mr. Carello’s fifty-seventh admission to Bellevue Hospital. Every admission was for either overdose or withdrawal from opiates—heroin or oxycodone. Today was an overdose, and the official treatment plan consisted of letting Mr. C

Jon Mooallem, science writer, discusses the state of conservation efforts, and our complicated relationship with the wild world.  He is the author of the new book, Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America (Penguin, 2013). → Event: Jon Mooallem, Black Prairie, and Wild Ones at City Winery July 29th | Info and Tickets     Listen: Black Prairie's Collaboration with Jon Mooallem (Buy Here)

Albany legislators stayed late last night and are back this morning to conclude the session. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, New York State Senator (D-Westchester) and Democratic conference leader, discusses the work still to be done, including the disputed women's equality bills.

In this segment we discuss how a border security surge would change the dynamic along the border--both in terms of the flow of people and the flow of money. To do so, we have three guests who are intimately familiar with the territories along the border: Jude Joffe-Block, senior field correspondent in Phoenix for Fronteras: The Changing America Desk, Amy Isackson, freelance reporter in San Diego and Tijuana and Mónica Ortiz Uribe, also a senior field correspondent for Fronteras in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

Felix Salmon, finance blogger for Reuters, discusses the announcement that the Federal Reserve will begin winding down stimulus efforts, and what this plan means for interest rates.