Broken Law

As we brace for the likelihood that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade , there is growing conversation about how states with abortion bans could go about investigating whether someone has had an abortion. This has given rise to the notion of abortion surveillance – a harrowing concept and yet something that could soon be all too real. This week, Jeanne Hruska speaks with Chad Marlow, ACLU...

Two years ago, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, caught on camera, ignited a national and even a global movement for police reform and racial justice. Two years later, reform still feels elusive. On this week's episode, Jeanne Hruska speaks with A.L. Brown, a criminal defense attorney from Minneapolis-St. Paul, about the intersection of racial justice and police refo...

Last October, we released an episode entitled, “The Case for Supreme Court Reform.” Since then, the urgency to reform our highest court has only intensified, as public trust in the Court continues to decline and the Court’s legitimacy along with it. This week, Jeanne Hruska speaks with Kermit Roosevelt from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School about the "how to" of Supreme Cou...

The leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , if officially released by the Supreme Court, would wipe out the federal constitutional right to abortion and directly impact the lives of millions of people. Already, the conservative legal movement is mobilizing to take advantage of the groundwork being laid in Dobbs to put same-sex marriage, contraception, and even interr...

The effects of climate change will be felt the strongest by young people. Refusing to stand idly by, 21 young people have sued the U.S. Government for violating their constitutional right to a climate that sustains life. The lawsuit, Juliana v. United States , is detailed in the documentary "Youth v Gov," now available on Netflix. This week, Jeanne Hruska speaks with Julia Olson, the lea...

This week, we react to the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which would overturn Roe v Wade and eliminate the constitutional right to abortion. Peggy Li speaks with Jenny Ma, Center for Reproductive Rights, and Rosann Mariappuram, Jane's Due Process, about the impact the draft opinion will have if it is officially released by the Supreme Cour...

This week, we’re discussing Puerto Rico, specifically the many ways in which U.S. law continues to subject this and the other U.S. territories to second class status. The latest example? The Supreme Court recently ruled, in an unusual 8 to 1 decision, that Puerto Ricans can be denied government benefits, despite being U.S. citizens. Lindsay Langholz speaks with Adriel Cepeda Derieux of the ACLU ab...

After interviewing hundreds of witnesses and reviewing tens of thousands of documents, the January 6 th Select Committee is preparing to hold public, televised hearings. While we’ve learned a lot in recent months from subpoenas and lawsuits, the American public is presumably about to learn a whole lot more in these hearings. So, what do we know already and what should we expect from the hearings?...

In recent weeks, there's been a flurry of revelations about the political activities of Justice Clarence Thomas's spouse, Virginia Thomas, including her text messages to Mark Meadows, then President Trump's chief of staff, that seem to espouse electoral conspiracy theories. On this episode, Jeanne Hruska speaks with Vox Senior Correspondent Ian Millhiser about what we know about Gin...

We are celebrating the historic and bipartisan confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the 116th Supreme Court Justice. Zinelle October, ACS executive vice president, speaks with Danielle Holley-Walker, Dean and Professor of Law of Howard Law School, and Russ Feingold, ACS president, about the significance of Judge Jackson's confirmation, while underscoring the Supreme Court's con...

State courts handle the vast majority of lawsuits in this country, easily outworking federal courts. And as the packed U.S. Supreme Court rewrites American jurisprudence, state courts are poised to become the battleground for even more issues that impact our daily lives. This could explain why races for state judgeships are heating up, with more mudslinging, intimidation, and money being spent. Ji...

The world is currently facing the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Millions of people are fleeing the effects of war, poverty, and persecution from places as disparate as Afghanistan, Central America, Haiti, and now Ukraine. This is happening against the continued backdrop of COVID-19 and the U.S. government’s use of a long-dormant immigration authority to expel asylum seekers. E...

There are orchestrated assaults being led by certain state legislatures against trans rights and reproductive rights in this country. While these attacks have been ongoing for years, they are ratcheting up. From Florida's "Don't Say Gay Bill" to a bill in Missouri that would bar pregnant people from accessing abortion services out of state, state legislators seem to be competin...

This November, voters in 30 states and the District of Columbia will be casting ballots for state attorney general. These elected officials work on many issues that impact our everyday lives, and yet, many people do not know exactly what they do or who is running for the office. Valerie Nannery speaks this week with Lisa Madigan, former state Attorney General for Illinois, about what it means to r...

Last month, Russia launched a premeditated, unjustified, and unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine in flagrant violation of international law. In response, the international community has unleashed crippling economic sanctions on Russia, President Biden has vowed that the United States will fulfill its obligations as a member of NATO, and the International Criminal Court has launched a probe int...

Secretaries of State (SoS) play a key role in preserving election security and access to the ballot. Voters will be casting ballots for their state's SoS in 27 states this year. But, just what is involved in being a SoS? And what should be made of the effort underway to pack these offices with proponents of "the Big Lie"? Lindsay Langholz speaks this week with Michigan Secretary of...

The Supreme Court is taking up four cases, consolidated under the name West Virginia v. EPA , that could lead to the most consequential decision on the government’s ability to fight climate change in recent history. Although the litigation is nominally over President Obama’s Clean Power Plan – which was repealed by the Trump administration but still exists in a zombie-like legal state – it's...

Supreme Court confirmations are headlining events, driving the news cycle and consuming the Senate’s attention. But just what does the confirmation process look like behind the scenes? Beyond the TV cameras of the public hearing, what goes into putting a justice on the Supreme Court? Jeanne Hruska talks this week with ACS President Russ Feingold, who voted on six Supreme Court justices during his...

What role do ethics violations play in the degradation of our democracy? The Trump administration left behind a legacy of profound corruption, egregious conflicts of interest, and outrageous self-dealing. The Wall Street Journal has reported on over 130 judges who have violated conflicts of interest laws. And Congress evades accountability on the regular by exempting itself from the Freedom of Inf...

Dr. Marcus Hunter joins Broken Law to talk with Peggy Li about why reparations are needed in the United States and how the movement for reparations works with and alongside the movement for Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) in this country. This episode is a great follow-up to Episode 9's introduction to TRHT. Dr. Hunter and Peggy address common misunderstandings about reparati...

Elie Mystal, Legal Analyst and Justice Correspondent for The Nation, stops by Broken Law to talk with Jeanne Hruska about what he means when he says, "you either control the Supreme Court or you control nothing.” They discus the Supreme Court's role in creating the voting rights crisis confronting the country and the Court's mounting assault on the executive branch. Elie concludes b...

Late last year, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging a NY State firearm regulation under the Second Amendment— New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen . This is the case that gun rights advocates have been waiting for and they are counting on the Supreme Court to deliver a blockbuster decision that radically expands the individual right to bear arms. Gun...

The battle over the 2022 midterm elections has already begun. Gerrymandering, packing of election offices, and new voter suppression laws are being leveraged to influence the results of the upcoming midterms before a single ballot is cast. Lindsay Langholz speaks with Michael Li and Elizabeth Howard from the Brennan Center for Justice about whether we are already in full crisis mode, how we got he...

One year ago, an angry mob of white supremacist anarchists stormed the U.S. Capitol, interrupted the constitutionally required counting of Electoral College votes, and tried to undermine the peaceful transfer of power. One year later there have been investigations, some prosecutions, and even an impeachment, but has it been enough to prevent January 6 th from serving as a blueprint for future insu...

In our final episode of 2021, Jeanne Hruska speaks with Melissa Murray, Professor at the NYU School of Law, and Mark Joseph Stern, staff writer at Slate Magazine, about the legal legacy of the past twelve months. What were the biggest legal stories of the year? Which legal stories went underreported? And which legal journalists and experts should you be following heading into 2022? ---------------...