Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Freedom Of Speech, Human Rights, Supreme Court
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James Goodale: Fighting for the Press and Freedom of Speech
Donald Trump has wasted no time in his second term attacking free speech and freedom of the press. He arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident with a green card and a student visa, and is trying to deport him (until restrained by a federal judge) because Khalil led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. He has threatened to deport other students for their pro-Palestinian protests. Trump banned the Associated Press from White House press briefings and Air Force One for using the term “Gulf of Mexico” instead of “Gulf of America.”
He also banned Reuters News Service and Huffington Post from the press pool. He has issued Executive Orders which federal agencies have cited as authority to ban forbidden words from government websites such as the words Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He’s threaten to pull federal funding from over 50 universities for teaching aspects of American history such as slavery and racism, which he labels “divisive.” He has encouraged congressional investigations against Democrats who served on the January 6 Committee.
He has promoted a definition of “antisemitism” which would punish political criticism of Israel. And he has filed lawsuits seeking hundreds of million of dollars in damages against ABC, CBS, Media Matters for America, and newspapers based on how they have reported on him, his candidacy, and his actions as President.
Guest – James Goodale is the former vice president and general counsel for The New York Times and, later, the Times’ vice chairman. He is the author of Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles. Goodale represented The New York Times in four of its United States Supreme Court cases, including Branzburg v. Hayes, in which the Times intervened on behalf of its reporter Earl Caldwell. The other cases were New York Times v. Sullivan, New York Times Co. v. United States (the Pentagon Papers case), and New York Times Co. v. Tasini. He has been called “the father of the reporter’s privilege” in the Hastings Law Journal because of his interpretation of the Branzburg case.
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Pushing The Limit Of Presidential Power
Since being sworn in for his second term on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump has signed (with a big black marker) almost 90 Executive Orders or EOs, stretching the limits of Presidential power. In response, over 100 lawsuits have been filed challenging the most egregious and questionable EOs. Some of the most sweeping orders seek to totally dismantle over 70 years of laws, policies, and programs promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. These EOs were immediately challenged in court. Meanwhile, some companies have surrendered to Trump and terminated their Diversity programs, while civil rights groups are fighting back.
Stephen’s recent article – First They Came For Mahmoud Khalil
Guest – Stephen Rohde is a writer, lecturer and political activist. For almost 50 years, he practiced civil rights, civil liberties, and intellectual property law and has won significant First Amendment victories in state and federal appellate courts. He is a past chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and past National Chair of Bend the Arc, a Jewish Partnership for Justice. He is a founder and current chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace; member of the Board of Directors of Death Penalty Focus, and a member of the Black Jewish Justice Alliance. He is the Special Advisor on Free Speech and the First Amendment for the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Mr. Rohde is the author of the books American Words of Freedom: The Words That Define Our Nation and Freedom of Assembly and numerous articles and book reviews on civil liberties and constitutional history for the Los Angeles Review of Books, American Prospect, LA Times, Ms. Magazine, Los Angeles Lawyer, LA Progressive, Truthdig and other publications.
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Illegal Immigration, Targeting Muslims, War Resister, worker's rights
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How Weak Opposition Strengthened Capitalist Order
We, as ordinary people, are experiencing a profound change in the nature of who holds power in America today. Our constitutional democracy, however limited by race and class, is being replaced by an oligarchy, that is to say, the rule by the super rich few over the many. The separation of powers between the Congress, the Executive, and the Supreme Court has all but been eliminated. We are getting what the oligarchs wish for, “a unitary executive” where Trump is attempting to rule by executive decrees.
He and Musk want to cripple, shrink, and eliminate various government agencies that we have won to protect us. They include the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Health, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Social Security Administration. They are perpetuating a hoax that all they want to do is eliminate fraud and waste and corruption.
Trump has now been in power for seven weeks. It took Hitler one month, three weeks, and two days to consolidate his dictatorship. He had legally been appointed as Chancellor. After a mentally unhinged person set fire to the German parliament, Hitler got a law passed revoking the German people’s civil liberties so they could not speak out or organize. Trade unions were banned. Then shortly thereafter he got the infamous “Enabling Act” passed which gave him the power to legislate by decree. His power was thus consolidated
Opposition by the Democratic Party to the transformation here in our country has been feeble. They welcomed Trump into the White House and pledged cooperation. Despite Trump‘s falling popularity – more people oppose him than support him – the Democrats have not mobilized people in the streets nor have they come up with a broad program for better wages, jobs, housing, healthcare for all, housing for the unhoused, the end of deportations, an opposition to the ongoing Palestinian genocide
Guest – Margaret Kimberley, a New York-based writer and activist. She has been an editor and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report since it’s inception in 2006. She is a contributor to the anthology In Defense of Julian Assange.
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Advances For Workers Through Independent Political Action
It’s one thing to wring our hands in despair over the re-election of Donald Trump and decry his out of the gate authoritarian, neo-fascist assault on U.S. democracy and governance. It’s quite another to offer, and begin to employ, a comprehensive strategy for not only combating the new Trump Administration, but to also advance a political ideology that challenges conventional wisdom over what is needed to make our country a truly democratic country, and a country that meets the needs of all its people, not simply its billionaire class.
Yet the billionaire class just keeps getting richer and more powerful. Last year the world’s five richest billionaires increased their wealth by $542 billion. Elan Musk’s wealth alone is fast approaching half a trillion dollars. And globally we are seeing the highest levels of inequality in human history.
So today we’ve invited to the show a guest with a radical vision of what is needed to not only defend against Trump’s dictatorial moves and legislative plans, but in a vastly more profound way bring about the end of the unjust and exploitative capitalist system of the rich in America, and replace it with an equitable and democratic system of governance.
Guest – Kshama Sawant, a socialist economist who was elected to, and served 10 years on the Seattle, Washington City Council. Her election and her advancement of a strong progressive agenda on the Council was often national news. WorkersStrikeBack.org
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Criminalizing Dissent, Freedom Of Speech, Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, War Resister
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Federal Court Challenges to Trump Administration Arguments
The number of active lawsuits in federal courts challenging Trump administration arguments has now topped 100. In 21 of those cases, judges have already issued temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions, effectively stopping, at least for now, parts of Trump’s agenda.
For example, as reported in the New York Times this past Sunday, trial court judges have blocked for now Trump’s mass firings of civil servants, Musk’s access to sensitive federal agency data, the relocation of transgendered women inmates to men’s prisons, the pursuit of immigrants inside houses of worship, and the freezing of up to $3 trillion of federal funding to the states. And in a very important case, a federal judge entered a final judgment reinstating the head of the federal watchdog agency. And just yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump Administration halting the sending out of those billions of foreign aid dollars.
But it must be pointed out that in a number of preliminary victories against Trump’s actions, the government, though losing the first round in the case, have nevertheless stalled in obeying the court’s orders. And Trump, himself, posted the absolutist notion that, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
Five of the judges who have ruled against Trump were appointed by Republican presidents, one by Trump himself. As a result of Trump’s losing record in court cases so far, there is now talk on the right of seeking to impeach judges who rule against the Trump Administration. And the number of death threats judges are experiencing from the public have gone up alarmingly, as well.
Guest – Stephen Rohde is a civil rights activist, author, and constitutional scholar. He practiced civil rights law for almost 50 years. He currently serves as chair of the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (aka ICUJP), which was formed in the wake of 9/11 for the purpose of organizing faith-based communities to call for an end to war and violence. He is also a past President of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and past Chair of Death Penalty Focus, and Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. Despite that long list of affiliations, today he’s not speaking on behalf of any of those organizations.
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Free Speech Protections Threatened Under Trump Administration
On March 4, 2025, President Donald Trump threatened to cut federal funding to colleges that permit what he calls “illegal protests.” This statement on social media has sparked a wave of reactions from civil rights groups as a direct attack on fundamental freedoms such as speech and assembly.
In his post, Trump echoed ideas from previous executive orders, including his 2019 order and one issued in January, which specifically targeted pro-Palestinian student protests on college campuses, calling them antisemitic. But Trump’s latest comments go further, asserting that any protest deemed illegal would lead to harsh consequences, including the imprisonment of agitators and expulsion or arrest of American students. The details, however, remain unclear, particularly around how the government would define “illegal protests” or the enforcement of such measures.
Trump’s latest threat has reignited concerns about the balance between freedom of speech and government intervention on college campuses. It also raises important questions about the rights of students, faculty, and protesters in the context of broader political and social movements.
Guest – Attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the Center for Protest Law and Litigation in Washington, DC. Mara is one of the nation’s leading litigators defending protesters and winning numerous reforms in police practices at mass assemblies and demonstrations.
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, worker's rights
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Emphasis On Christian Nationalism
Several recent developments in the United States have highlighted an increased emphasis on Christian Nationalism within government policies, raising concerns about the separation of church and state and its impact on daily life.
This heretical form of Christianity is being forced upon us. It is super masculine, misogynist, nationalist, homophobic, white, supremacist, and racist. It is Christian in name only. The religion of egalitarian Jesus, who preached the values of the sermon on the mount, is not their religion. The Christian nationalists want to use the power of the state to impose on us their brand of Christianity. It is not the solidarity of humankind.
In February 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order creating the White House Faith Office. This office aims to strengthen partnerships between the federal government and faith-based organizations, enabling them to compete for federal funding and collaborate on initiatives addressing social issues. The order underscores the administration’s recognition of the significant role these organizations play in community development.
Also in February 2025, Trump announced the formation of a task force dedicated to eliminating what he termed “anti-Christian bias” within the federal government. This initiative involves a comprehensive review of federal agencies to identify and address policies or practices perceived as discriminatory against Christians. The task force’s mandate includes ensuring that faith-based organizations receive equal treatment in government programs and services.
The appointment of Russell Vought as the head of the Office of Management and Budget has raised concerns among critics. Vought, known for his Christian nationalist views, has been instrumental in shaping policies that integrate Christian principles into governance. His influence is evident in initiatives that seek to align federal policies with specific religious values, potentially affecting the secular nature of government operations.
Guest – Andrew Seidel, author and attorney who’s defended the First Amendment for more than a decade, both in and out of court. Andrew dedicated his career to challenging religious privilege and battling Christian Nationalism.
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A Golden Age of Oligarchs
Last month, Elon Musk said something about the Trump election with which we agree. He said “this was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization.“ How true. Now our democracy, however, restricted by class and race, is in the process of being replaced by a super wealthy oligarchy. There are more than 800 billionaires in the United States. They are now in the saddle.
The Citizens United Supreme Court case of 2010 eased the process. Trump was elected with money, truly big money from 10 people. Elon Musk alone contributed $277 million. Biden himself in his farewell address warned of the takeover by an oligarchy. Echoing President Eisenhower‘s famous warning of a military industrial complex, Biden talked about the “tech industrial complex.“
This second Trump term will not be like the first. It won’t be incoherent and chaotic. This has been guaranteed by the Heritage Foundation which wrote a 920 page playbook for dismantling democracy.
The process has begun with Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord and calling for more drilling. “Drill baby drill” is his mantra. This is a race towards human extinction. On January 21st he pulled out of the World Health Organization. The day he was sworn in he pardoned some 1500 people who participated, and even lead the January 6th insurrection. This is a greenlight for fascist mobs who now must feel they can get away with anything.
The Democratic Party has greased the skids for this transition. It cannot be relied on for the defense of the American people. Biden and Harris after accurately calling Trump a fascist to the last few weeks of the election, then did an about face welcoming him in to the White House saying they would cooperate with him and praising the peaceful transition, a transition that Trump if he lost promised not to abide by.
Guest – Chris Hedges, the journalist and author spent two decades as a foreign correspondent serving as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for The New York Times where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of 14 books including War is a Force That Gives us Meaning, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which he co-wrote with the cartoonist Joe Sacco, and The Death of the Liberal Class. Chris’ forthcoming book is titled A Genocide Foretold.
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Academic Freedom, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Executive Branch Law Breaking, Human Rights
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Lawyers Defending American Democracy
The early days of the Trump administration have ushered in a series of assertive executive orders that are rapidly reshaping the federal landscape. While new administrations typically bring change, most Americans expect such shifts to respect the rule of law. Project 2025, however, diverges from legal norms, challenging birthright citizenship, dismantling crucial federal agencies like USAID without congressional approval, and attempting to criminalize support for lawful diversity and anti-bias initiatives.
Today’s guest is Lauren Stiller Rikleen, Executive Director of Lawyers Defending American Democracy. She argues that the media has inadequately covered the full scope of Project 2025’s goals. While the boldness of presidential actions has shocked many, these plans were outlined in the Project’s Mandate for Leadership. Trump’s executive orders threaten protections for workers and marginalized communities and undermine checks and balances that ensure government accountability.
Through these executive orders, the administration is unabashedly aligning the government with conservative ideals at the expense of civil rights and environmental protections. Presidential power is being centralized while erasing decades of legal safeguards against discrimination and environmental harm.
Guest – Lauren Stiller Rikleen is author of four books and editor of the 2023 anthology Her Honor—Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges, she is also an active member of the American Bar Association. She serves as vice-chair of the Advisory Commission to the Task Force on American Democracy, vice-chair of the Advisory Council to the DEI Center, and co-chair of the Women’s Caucus.
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Trump Executive Orders Dismantle DEI, Critical Race Theory
We are experiencing Donald Trump has launched his second term as President with an avalanche of Executive Orders as part of a calculated Shock and Awe strategy to take over the federal government in defiance of the Constitution, Congress, and maybe even the Supreme Court. One of the most dangerous aspects of that scheme is his plan to dismantle well-established programs and policies that encourage Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, known as DEI, in American society in general and in education in particular; to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory; and to either totally eliminate the Department of Education or at a minimum strip it of its key functions and funding.
The Department of Education was established by an Act Congress in 1979, signed by President Jimmy Carter. The Department of Education says its elementary and secondary programs serve more than 50 million students in about 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools. It also provides grants, loans, and work-study assistance to more than 12 million post-secondary students.
According to Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, Trump’s expected Executive Order to abolish the Department of Education, if it becomes a reality, “would steal resources from the most vulnerable students, explode class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher ed more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections.”
A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to eliminate the Department of Education, though since it would require 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to do so, it is unlikely to pass.
Christopher Rufo, a Senior Fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, writing in its publication, City Journal, spells out rather clearly why the Right is so determined to shut the department down. After pointing out the areas of its work, Rufo says it engages in “ideological production, which includes an array of programs, grants and civil rights initiatives, and third-party NGO’s that create left-wing content to push on local schools.” And he refers to the Department of Education over-all as “a hotbed of left-wing ideologies.”
Trump has yet to issue his Executive Order on this matter, but he’s already said he wants to put the Department of Education out of business, and transfer some of it duties to other departments.
And so today we spend our entire hour looking at the legality of Trump’s plans to target DEI, Critical Race Theory and the Department of Education and, if he is successful, what will be lost and what it is likely to mean for the state of education in America.
Guest – Stephen Rohde is a civil rights activist, author, and constitutional scholar. He practiced civil rights law for almost 50 years. He currently serves as chair of the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (aka ICUJP), which was formed in the wake of 9/11 for the purpose of organizing faith-based communities to call for an end to war and violence. He is also a past President of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and past Chair of Death Penalty Focus, and Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. Despite that long list of affiliations, today he’s not speaking on behalf of any of those organizations.
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Truth to Power
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Dismantling Progress, Deportation And Sanctuary Cities
On Law and Disorder, we’re celebrating Black History Month. We remember and honor the ongoing struggle of Black Americans and their allies to achieve equality, justice and fairness. But the forces of white supremacy have opposed that struggle at every turn. Today, the President of the United States and his enablers are at the forefront of not only dismantling the progress that has been made but creating new obstacles to impede further progress.
On day one, Trump claimed to end birthright citizenship and he terminated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies and programs throughout the federal government and in companies with federal contracts. He has stepped up deportations and is sending undocumented immigrants to the infamous detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He canceled flights for refugees already approved to travel to the United States. He has threatened to prosecute local officials in Sanctuary Cities who refuse to cooperate with ICE agents. He froze federal grants and loans designed to support low income food, housing, and educational programs. All told, in the first 18 days, he issued over 65 Execution Orders or policy statements that threaten to tear apart the fabric of American society that has been striving – haltering at times – to achieve Equality and Justice for All.
Meanwhile, the recent devastating fires in Los Angeles have destroyed entire communities in the wealthy Pacific Palisades and in less wealthy Altadena, which has a special place in the history of African Americans in Los Angeles. Will the ambitious plans to rebuild these destroyed areas favor the rich over the poor, as we saw after Katrina and so many natural and man-made disasters?
Guest – Sheila Miller serves as Director of Race, Equity & Inclusion at the National Immigration Law Center and leads the implementation of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Belonging (DEIBJ) initiatives. She is responsible for creating, training, managing, and optimizing all efforts to make the NILC internal workplace a fairer, more equitable environment for all employees. She partners with leaders across the organization to ensure progress toward NILCs vision of being a race-forward, fully inclusive organization.
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44 States Set to Remove Critical Race Theory
Forty four states have introduced bills or taken other steps that would restrict teaching critical race theory, or limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism. Critical race theory is an academic and legal framework that recognizes systemic racism in the United States. It challenges the idea that racism is abnormal or that it’s just a result of individual bias.
In late January, the Department of Defense issued a memo removing the recognition of history months, such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Pride Month, from its official observances, claiming such months played a divisive role in American society.
But we in the National Lawyers Guild still strongly believe such months can play a vital role in educating our diverse population on matters often given little or no attention in our lives or in our public schools around the nation.
So as far as we are concerned, this month, the month of February is still Black History Month. And, we’ve invited two guests who believe as we do to join us here on The Lawyers Guild Show today to discuss racism in America, both historic and present-day. That, in turn, means we will be examining critical race theory and consider why White America has so much fear of it being taught in our public schools.
Guests – Sharon Kyle and Dick Price, respectively publisher and editor of the LA Progressive, a daily on-line magazine widely read throughout the greater Los Angeles area, and beyond. Sharon Klye is Black, Dick Price, who happens to be her husband, is White.
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