Broken Law

In this final episode of our State of Democracy series, we discuss the importance of a vibrant civil society, which is frequently discussed in foreign policy circles, but less so here at home. Jeanne Hruska speaks with Sarah Holewinski from Human Rights Watch and Jon Temin from Freedom House about what we, as civil society stakeholders, can do to strengthen democracy, and whether our involvement i...

70 years after the establishment of the United Nations and the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we are witnessing mounting human rights abuses in every corner of the globe. These abuses are piling up alongside what experts say is a pattern of global democratic retreat, forcing us to wonder if these two phenomena are linked together. Are democracy and human rights interdependen...

On December 1 st , the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the blockbuster abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org. Lindsay Langholz speaks with Gretchen Borchelt, Vice President for Reproductive Rights and Health at the National Women's Law Center, on this week's episode to break down the oral arguments and discuss what the future holds for reproductive rights and justi...

Across the globe, we are witnessing a democratic decline, including worrying signs of democratic retreat here at home. Elected autocrats are fine tuning their playbook in countries as diverse as Venezuela and Hungary. What is leading to this rise in global authoritarianism and how can democracies combat it? This week, Debra Perlin speaks with Michael Abramowitz, president of Freedom House, about t...

For as much talk as there is about the presidency and whom we elect to Congress, there is rarely public conversation about who is sitting on our federal courts, specifically those that are not the U.S. Supreme Court. This absence of public discourse is at odds with the impact that the federal courts have on our lives. On this episode, Jeanne Hruska chats with Jill Dash, ACS Vice President for Stra...

McGirt v. Oklahoma may be the most consequential recent Supreme Court case that you have never heard of. McGirt, decided in July 2020, stunned many Court watchers and Indian Law experts. Rather than uphold white political dominance, the Supreme Court ruled that a sizeable portion of Oklahoma remains Native American land. Why is this so consequential? Christopher Wright Durocher speaks with Amb. Ke...

Throughout the world, the death penalty is in decline. Since 1976, more than 75 countries have abolished the death penalty, and many others have severely curtailed its use or abolished it in practice, if not in law. While this trend is reflected in parts of the United States, the federal government and many states retain capital punishment. How does this affect our country’s standing in the intern...

Disability law and policy is too often pushed to the edges of the legal field, left to folks from the disability community to both advocate for and navigate. But we know that these issues impact every aspect of our legal system and our collective daily lives. According to the Center for Disease Control, one in four adults has a disability in this country. How do we reform disability law so it actu...

The U.S. Supreme Court is facing a legitimacy crisis. Put simply, we no longer have a Supreme Court that can be trusted to uphold constitutional rights, judicial norms, and democratic guardrails in this country. ACS President, Russ Feingold, and Executive Vice President, Zinelle October, join Jeanne Hruska to discuss how the Supreme Court reached this point and the structural and non-structural re...

Over 30,000 people work for the federal judiciary, a system that the public relies on for redressing sexual and workplace harassment. And yet, those 30,000 employees go to work each and every day without the protection of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Now, some employees are taking the f...

Right now, the diversity of the American public is scarcely reflected in positions of leadership, whether on the bench or even in the film industry. While diversity is often discussed in the form of percentages and statistics, numbers do not explain what is lost when diversity is missing. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Zoraima Peleaz is joined by Judge Maria Lucy Armendariz and Emmy-Nomi...

At 17 years old, Jarrett Adams was wrongly convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison. It took him ten years to prove his innocence. As shocking as Jarrett's story is, he will be the first to tell you that it is not as unique as you think. Join Meghan Paulas for her conversation with Jarrett, author of Redeeming Justice, about his journey through the broken criminal legal system and why it...

The twenty years since 9/11 have seen the growth of the "Surveillance State," with the proliferation of government surveillance following the enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act. On this episode, Debra Perlin is joined by Hasan Ali from Microsoft and Greg Nojeim from the Center for Democracy and Technology to discuss how increased surveillance has changed the way Americans think about priva...

In the wake of 9/11, Congress passed the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). Only one member of Congress voted against it, Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Join Russ Feingold, the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, for his interview with Congresswoman Lee about what happened behind the scenes in the lead up to the AUMF and what it is like to be a dissenter in Congress...

On Part I of our Legal Legacy of 9/11 series, we focus specifically on domestic extremism and how we can avoid repeating the same post-9/11 mistakes when it comes to confronting this domestic threat. In the weeks and months following 9/11, the U.S. government adopted an aggressive preventative approach to international counterterrorism. This approach was seen through expansive new legislation, swe...

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, reproductive rights have never been more in peril than they are today, due to the make up of our highest court. How did we get here and what can be done to preserve abortion access in this new reality? Join Lindsay Langholz for her conversation with Julie Kay and Kathryn Kolbert, authors of the new book Controlling Women, as they discuss th...

In 2019, New Hampshire became the 21st state to repeal the death penalty. With growing momentum across the country to abolish the death penalty, are there lessons to be learned from the states that have recently done so? Join Jeanne Hruska for her interview with Renny Cushing, a NH Representative who led the effort to repeal the death penalty in his state, about how this genuinely purple state suc...

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released data from the 2020 census, initiating the process of redrawing electoral maps in every state. This will be the first time that electoral maps are redrawn with the permission of the U.S. Supreme Court to gerrymander. What does this mean for our elections and for our democracy more broadly? Join Lindsay Langholz for her interview with Michael Li (李之樸), Sen...

Workers' rights are facing a slew of different challenges, from a hostile U.S. Supreme Court to corporations actively undermining their workers' right to organize. Add in the unique challenges of working amidst a pandemic, and this episode could not be more timely or important. Join Russ Feingold, ACS President, for his conversation with labor experts on how we protect workers' righ...

In August 2017, hundreds of white supremacists, including members of the KKK and neo-Nazis, descended upon the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, for a “Unite the Right” rally. The rally turned violent, and a white nationalist drove his car through the crowd, causing multiple injuries and the death of counter-protestor Heather Heyer. Since Charlottesville, there has been an array of conversations...

The American Constitution Society recently announced its support for a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Commission (TRHT). This episode delves into why we need TRHT in the United States and uses housing segregation as a case study for how racism is baked into our laws and legal systems. Join Zinelle October, Dr. Gail Christopher, and Richard Rothstein for this discussion about how we achi...

In the past year, state legislatures across the country have introduced a slew of anti-trans bills seeking to criminalize gender-affirming healthcare and bar trans girls from playing sports. But really, these attacks are not about healthcare or sports; they are just the latest attempts to suppress trans existence. Join Jordan Blisk for his conversation with Dr. Jerrica Kirkley and civil rights att...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently concluded its 2020-2021 term, announcing a series of decisions in high profile cases related to voting rights, labor rights, and LGBTQ rights. ACS's Policy and Program team discuss several of the decisions and what they mean for the law going forward. The team will also look ahead to the Court's upcoming term and preview some of the more controversial case...

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to voting rights in its recent 6-3 decision in Brnovich v. DNC. The Court's conservative majority upheld two Arizona voter suppression laws and gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Join Lindsay Langholz and Kat Calvin for a discussion about the impact of this decision and the Court's previous decision in Shelby County v. Holder . They...

In this episode, Garrett Epps speaks with Victoria Nourse and Peter Shane to break down the claims of "originalism" and show how this flawed legal theory, as applied to the executive branch, has pushed our system to the brink of dictatorship. Legal arguments on constitutional issues are dominated, more and more, by the claims of “originalist” jurisprudence. The term, originated by the co...