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Here’s the highlight reel of last week’s posts and events. Grab a cup of coffee and get ready to catch up on anything you missed—links to all of last week’s columns below.
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The Week Ahead: I shared my List of Dread as we faced the new term of the Supreme Court and we pondered just how much damage the Court will do this term.
The Supreme Court Says No to “Let’s Go Brandon”: As the Supreme Court began its new term, the Justices declined to hear a case involving whether schools could prohibit students from wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts. We went deep into legal precedent and context to understand this decision and contemplated “more speech” as the best remedy to negative speech.
Pat Robertson Tried It While Campaigning. Will Trump Fare Any Better?: The Eleventh Circuit moved up the date for oral argument in a case where two news organizations are asking the court to let them argue for the release of Volume II of Jack Smith’s special counsel's report. We looked at the history of date changes in the case and the government’s argument against the newest change (spoiler alert: Trump’s strategy remains, as ever, to delay, delay, delay). I shared my prosecutor’s-eye-view of how rare this type of continuance argument is, along with a reflection on a case I worked on as a young lawyer involving the televangelist Pat Robertson, who was running for president at the time. Read above for how that turned out and for the context to understand the current request.
The Republic, Revisited: Introducing a new 10-week series. Once a week, for the next 10 weeks, I’m going to share a passage from my book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy, that feels extremely relevant to where we are now. If you have the book, this is a good time to pull it back off the shelf and reread along with me. And if you don’t have it yet, you can pick up a copy and join the discussion. Many local libraries have copies too.
Live with Judd Legum: Judd Legum joined us to discuss his new online app, paidforby.info. He explains how to use it to learn who's behind the political ads you see online and the mailers you receive—what he calls the wild west of political advertising because it receives virtually no scrutiny. If you’re looking for something you can do, and information you can share with folks with whom it may be difficult to have more pointed political conversations, this one is for you!
Random Stories. Or Are They?: Seemingly unrelated recent news stories turn out to be all part of one larger story. And it’s the story we must pay attention to. Read at the link above so we can connect the dots. Take a few minutes to read this one if you haven’t yet.
Five Questions with Hannah Pingree: Hannah Pingree, Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Maine, is a good reminder that people who are in public service for all the right reasons still exist. Talking with Hannah reminds us there is a generation of younger politicians coming along who understand this, and want to deliver.
Can the Sherman Act Be Used To Silence the Press?: Saturday night, The New York Times reported that the Trump Justice Department is investigating whether the major television networks that participate in the White House pool—ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox—violated the law by refusing to cover Donald Trump for a brief period after he suspended the White House hard passes for CNN, MSNOW, and Politico. We look into the credibility of this investigation, the law behind it, and Trump’s motivation.
These are complicated legal times. It’s easy for the truth to get lost in the chaos. Here at Civil Discourse, our goal is to do more than just track headlines. We connect them to the legal precedent and political context that explains why they matter. We don’t forget what’s at stake. We don’t let Trump and his allies rewrite the past.
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We’re in this together,
Joyce