What Is The Comstock Act?

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the John Durham report on the FBI investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign; the mifepristone case heard by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the 12-week abortion ban in North Carolina; and the legal showdown between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney.    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: David Frum for The Atlantic: “A Sinister Flop: Special Counsel John Durham served up not an investigation, but an excuse for future partisan abuses.” Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “How a 150-Year-Old Law Against Lewdness Became a Key to the Abortion Fight” Debra Michals for the National Women’s History Museum: “Margaret Sanger  Stephen Neukam for The Hill: “Rick Scott on Disney-DeSantis feud: ‘Cooler heads have to prevail’” Will Saletan for The Bulwark: “The Corruption of Lindsey Graham: A case study in the rise of authoritarianism.”   Here are this week’s chatters: John: Rebecca Morelle and Alison Francis for BBC News: “Titanic: First ever full-sized scans reveal wreck as never seen before”; Lilit Marcus and Sania Farooqui for CNN: “Sherpa breaks record with 27th Mount Everest summit” Emily: Divide Me By Zero by Lara Vapnyar  David: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann; join David at a live taping of City Cast DC on Saturday June 3 at 1 p.m., Right Proper Brewing's Brookland production house and tasting room. Tickets are free. RSVP here.    Listener chatter from Jon: “Trappisten verlassen Abtei Engelszell” [Trappists leave Engelszell Abbey]   For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, Emily, and John discuss with The Bulwark’s Will Saletan @saletan his book, “The Corruption of Lindsey Graham: A case study in the rise of authoritarianism.”   In the latest edition of Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Curtis Sittenfeld @csittenfeld about her book, Romantic Comedy.   Join us for a live taping! Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C., Wednesday June 28, 7:30 p.m., Sixth & I, 600 I St. NW. Tickets are on sale now.    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected] or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth   Research by Julie Huygen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices