Law school; covering the Supreme Court; an irreverence found in Canada; and working to convey that the Court is not as hard to know as it might seem.

“I think always the humor was a means to an end. And the end is, to help folks who don’t live in this world understand why it matters.”

Dahlia Lithwick covers the Supreme Court and writes about law more broadly for Slate.com. In this six-part interview, Ms. Lithwick discusses law school, practicing law, and how she began covering the Supreme Court; the tension among the media covering the Court, the Justices’ public presence and access to information; cameras in the Court; how to read the Court and the conflict between legal doctrine and the Court’s institutional position; and the Court’s struggle with questions (legal, institutional, and personal) of identity, especially in light of women on the Court and facing questions of gender.

(Fabrizio di Piazza)