Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Freedom Of Speech
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The First Amendment v. Trump 2.0 Policies And Actions
A prominent expert on the First Amendment recently wrote that “Trump 2.0 policies and actions have had broad censorious and chilling effects” that represent “the greatest governmental threat to the First Amendment since the McCarthy Era of the 1950s.”
Trump and his cohorts have violated or threatened to violate the First Amendment by:
- Indicting government officials based on their criticism of the President or expression of disfavored ideas
- Terminating billions of dollars in federal funding to universities on ideological grounds to control their core academic operations; conditioning federal research on the agreement not to promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “gender ideology” and to teach only “patriotic” curricula in K-12 schools;
- Arresting and detaining international students and foreign scholars based on their viewpoints and political activism, and revoking visas of foreign nationals based on political expression;
- Retaliating against the press by excluding specific media outlets from White House events based on their viewpoints and reporting;
- Threatening to revoke broadcast licenses based on networks’ editorial decisions;
- Restricting reporters’ access to unclassified defense-related information held by the Pentagon;
- Defunding libraries and public broadcasters;
- Scrubbing historical, scientific, and other data from federal agency websites;
- Ordering the removal of “anti-American” displays in national museums;
- Directing the Attorney General to prosecute individuals who burn the U.S. flag because that form of protest is “uniquely offensive and provocative” and communicates “contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation;”
To help us access the threat that Donald Trump poses to the First Amendment and in particular, freedom of the press, we are joined by a lawyer who has been defending the First Amendment his entire career.
Guest – David McCraw serves as the senior newsroom lawyer for The New York Times. He has been at The Times for more than two decades and currently holds the position of Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. His team provides legal counsel to Times journalists on libel, leak investigations, subpoenas for sources, access to information, and the law of newsgathering. He is the author of the book “Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts,” a first-person account of the legal battles that helped shape The Times’s coverage of Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, national security, and the rise of political partisanship in America.
He is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, where he annually teaches a one-semester course on press law. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Cornell University, and Albany Law School.
—-
Prominent Freedom of Press Cases Follow Up
In May 2023, FBI agents raided the Florida home of independent journalist Tim Burke, seizing computers, hard drives, cellphones and notebooks. Burke had obtained unaired Fox News footage, including outtakes of Tucker Carlson interviewing Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, in which Ye made antisemitic remarks. Burke says he accessed the footage using login credentials that were publicly available. Prosecutors say he had no permission to use them. Three months later, police raided the offices of the Marion County Record, a small weekly newspaper in Kansas, along with the homes of its publisher and a city councilwoman. The paper’s 98-year-old co-owner, Joan Meyer, died the day after the raid.
Both investigations involved journalists gathering information and reporting on matters of public interest. Yet both brought extraordinary law enforcement power down on the press. Burke was charged in 2024 by the Biden Justice Department with 14 felonies. After a federal judge later dismissed seven wiretapping counts, the Trump Justice Department appealed, then dropped that appeal in September. Last month, a grand jury returned a new indictment charging Burke with 13 felony counts. He has also sued the government over secret searches of his Google and Twitter accounts. His criminal case is still moving toward trial.
In Kansas, reporter Phyllis Zorn reached a settlement in her lawsuit against the city of Marion, three years to the day after the raid. The city will pay her $850,000; the county had already paid her $600,000. The police investigation centered on Zorn’s lookup of a local businessman’s driving record on a publicly accessible state website. Police characterized it as identity theft. freedom.press/newsletters pressfreedomtracker.us
Guest – Caitlin Vogus, senior adviser for advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. She previously served at the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Federal Communications Commission.
——————
Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Freedom Of Speech, Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, Racist Police Violence, U.S. Militarism, Violations of U.S. and International Law, War Resister
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Legal Challenges Leading Up to Mid-term Election
Prior to our mid-term elections, scores of lawyers for the Republican Party prepared lawsuits in preparation to challenge the outcome of the elections around the country. And, in response, lawyers for the Democratic Party prepared to defend against all such lawsuits. Leading up to the elections, the Trump Administration sent federal agents to knock on potential voters’ doors, challenged mail-in ballots in court, and lost, and carried on a campaign to convince the American people that the elections would be unfair without the federal government’s pre-election threats and lawsuits. Along the way Trump, on several occasions, suggested he might even declare martial law or take other steps to prevent the elections from taking place. He is on record as saying he wants to “control” the mid-term elections and will only honor the outcome if he judges them to be fair.
We will examine some of the many actions and threats coming from the Trump Administration in the lead-up to, and conduct of the elections, as well as possible challenges to the results of the elections once they have concluded.
Guest – Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, and the former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times. Among his more than a dozen books are American Fascism: The Christian Right and the War on America; The Greatest Evil Is War; and A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine. Chris Hedges is also one of the contributors to the book titled From the Flag to the Cross: Fascism American Style, a book composed of summaries of interviews with guests here on the Law and Disorder radio show, and available for purchase at O/R Books. His latest book is titled Requiem for Gaza.
—-
Chicago Wrongful Murder Convictions Case Awarded 260.8 Million
Our guest today is Chicago civil rights attorney Anand Swaminathan. In October 2026, the Chicago City Council authorized payment of $260.8 million, that is over a quarter of $1 billion dollars, in compensation to 17 men who each spent decades in prison for wrongful murder convictions. These men were represented by Anand Swaminathan and his law firm Loevy & Loevy.
They altogether served nearly 400 years in prison for murders of which they were falsely convicted. Attorney Swaminathan and his partner Steve Art litigated their civil cases for 13 years. The false convictions of murder were arranged by Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevarra. He was responsible for some 50 wrongful convictions which he accomplished by using false witness statements, and false coerced confessions.
The victims lived in the heavily Latino community of Chicago’s Northwest side in the 1980s and 1990s. The victims were all young men ages 14 to 28.
Detective Guevara is retired. He lives on a Chicago Police Department pension of $91,000 a year and will likely never be held accountable. The passage of time and the unavailability and death of witnesses has so far, got him off the hook. When Anand deposed Guevara, Guevara took the fifth Amendment some 200 times.
At the same time detective Reynaldo Guevara was sending innocent Latino men to prison in the Humboldt Park area his counterpart Chicago Police Department Commander Jon Burge was torturing Black men on the south side into confessing falsely to an array of crimes.
This was exposed through decades of community activism and litigation by civil rights attorneys from the People’s Law Office. People’s Law Office attorney Flint Taylor wrote about it in his book titled “The Torture Machine.” Burge was ultimately convicted of perjury and sent to prison. In 2015, the City of Chicago passed a landmark ordinance that among other things paid reparations to Burge’s victims.
Comedian Lenny Bruce used to say “Chicago is so corrupt it’s thrilling.” Is it possible to reform the police? What part does racism play? How much money have the citizens of Chicago been forced to pay by the actions of the police department? Will this gargantuan settlement actually bring about reforms? Do the powers that be in Chicago really want reforms? The most fundamental reform would be community control of the police instead of allowing them to terrorize the Black and Latino Community.
Guest – Anand Swaminathan grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of immigrant Indian parents who were professors . He attended Harvard law school, where he had more cases in its legal aid efforts than any previous student at the school. Swaminathan is a partner at a law firm of Loevy and Loevy, where he has worked for the last 16 years.
—————-
Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Freedom Of Speech
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The FACE Act Cited As Religious Protection Against Protesters Of Israeli Land Sale In Palestine
Passed in 1994 in response to violent and obstructive protests at reproductive-health clinics, the federal FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act) also protects people exercising their First Amendment right to religious freedom at places of worship. The law has now become the latest battleground over protest and free speech.
The government has claimed that the Party for Socialism and Liberation New Jersey, or PSL-NJ, published a social media post calling for a public protest against a real estate event involving the sale of property in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. The Trump Administration’s Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit under the FACE Act, arguing that the protest violated the law’s protections for religious worship. Their argument was an unusual one.
Guest – Attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the Center for Protest Law and Litigation in Washington DC. In addition to serving as counsel for PSL-NJ in this case, Mara has spent decades defending protesters and political movements against government surveillance, repression and unconstitutional restrictions on speech.
—-
Geopolitical Shift In Balance As Brazil Elections Underway
We go south, to Brazil. Following its first-round presidential election on October 4th, incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and challenger Flávio Bolsonaro—son of former president Jair Bolsonaro—are officially heading to a runoff. It is an incredibly tight race, with Bolsonaro securing approximately 47% against Lula’s 45% of the vote.
Against this electoral backdrop, relations between Brazil and the US remain fraught with tension. Remember—they’re the two largest democracies in the Western Hemisphere, so mounting friction with Washington continues to open up key diplomatic and economic opportunities for Brazil with China. What does this runoff and geopolitical shift mean for the future of Latin American democracy, global trade, and Washington’s influence in the region?
Guest – James N. Green, Professor Green is Emeritus Professor of Brazilian History and Culture at Brown University, where he was also director of the Brazil Initiative. He’s spent decades studying Brazil’s political and social transformations—from the military dictatorship years to today’s high-stakes election.
———————
Censorship, Civil Liberties, Freedom Of Speech
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Law and Disorder Donate Here Today
Here are comments from stations and listeners:
I recently heard your wonderful program on a local radio station-Black Sheep Radio 91.5 WOOL. My wife and I live in Vermont which has its own new “green” exploitation of the ecosystem.
—-
We appreciate L&D here at KKRN. Always there for download on Sunday night. We air 7 Pm every Monday. – – -Thanks Bobbi at KKRN 88.5
—-
From Pittsburgh, PA: Hello I’m a long time listener living here in Pittsburgh, PA. I dearly thank you for your effort to spread justice, responsible government and social consciousness in general. I very dearly thank you for your program its the best of its kind out there, by far.
—-
For years now, every Sunday night (without fail—not a single exception), I wait with anticipation for the new show to be posted. (No, it’s not because I have a boring life). I wish I could fully describe my great appreciation for Law and Disorder…but words alone can’t really do it justice.
———————————————-
Artificial Intelligence, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Freedom Of Speech, Human Rights, Right To Dissent, Surveillance
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism And The Fight Over Free Speech In Modern America
Today in America, “we proclaim our commitment to fighting hatred while applying it selectively. We champion free speech until confronted with speech we despise – and minimize the claims of those wounded by words.” American democracy “stands at a precipice, besieged by authoritarian politics, resurgent nativism, and populist demagoguery. These forces, once relegated to history, now threaten our pluralistic society and its defining commitments to freedom and equality.” Those chilling words are from the brand new book Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism And The Fight Over Free Speech In Modern America by James Loeffler.
Guest – Professor James Loeffler is the Felix Posen Professor of Modern Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University, and Kogod Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He writes widely on modern Jewish history from antisemitism to Zionism, with a focus on the overlooked ties between the Jewish past and the global present in politics, law, and culture. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic.
—-
Digital Privacy Laws Lag Far Behind Evolving Modern Communication
The 15th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street has just passed, when protesters occupied Zuccotti Park NYC and sparked a global movement. Occupy also attracted significant government surveillance. Documents later obtained through FOIA showed that the Department of Homeland Security monitored the movement and circulated intelligence to the private sector about Occupy activists and protests. That history raises a question that goes well beyond protest movements: How do lawyers protect confidential communications in a world where so much of their work is digital? Confidentiality handle information that can affect a client’s freedom, finances, safety, and legal strategy. Yet many lawyers aren’t trained to think about the technology they use in terms of protecting that confidentiality.
Guest – Jonathan Stribling-Uss, is a New York City lawyer and digital security consultant. He founded and directs Constitutional Communications, an organization that supports non-profits specializing in information security for professionals and civil society groups. Jonathan previously served as a Mozilla and Ford Foundation Media and Democracy Fund Technologist Fellow at the New York Civil Liberties Union. He has trained hundreds of attorneys in cybersecurity and ethics through organizations including the New York County Lawyers Association and the American Bar Association. https://privacytools.io/
————-
CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Cuba, Freedom Of Speech, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, Torture, War Resister
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Moving The Bar: My Life As A Radical Lawyer
Hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith interviewed some of Michael Ratner’s closest friends and colleagues as part of a special broadcast highlighting Michael Ratner’s legal work and mentorship. The special also marked the upcoming release of Michael Ratner’s autobiography Moving The Bar: My Life As A Radical Lawyer published by OR Books. In this one hour taken from the two hour fundraiser broadcast, we hear from attorneys including Eleanor Stein, Richard Levy, Ray Brescia, David Cole and Baher Azmy.
Michael Ratner’s pathbreaking legal and political work is unmatched. He provided crucial support for the Cuban Revolution and won the seminal case in the Supreme Court guaranteeing the right of habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees. Michael also challenged U.S. policy in Iraq, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Israel-Palestine. This book is a testament to his unflagging efforts on behalf of the poor and oppressed around the world.
– Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Michael Ratner personified lawyering that brought both radical and human values into challenges to the use of governmental power to violate the essence of the Bill of Rights. From the torture of prisoners after 911 to the massive racial profiling by the New York Police Department, Michael’s voice and vision continue to resonate. This book provides a powerful testament to the spirit of this extraordinary man.
– Attorney Bill Goodman
————
