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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: We started the week with an overview of key legal developments, and especially the legal challenges to Trump’s efforts to interfere with mail voting.
Germany Takes a Right Turn: We usually stick to law and politics in the U.S. at Civil Discourse, but on Sunday we looked to Germany, where the far-right AfD party’s success at the polls is a cautionary tale because of our close alliance with that country and events in Ukraine.
Labor Day: We talked about what we can do right now, in the spirit of the American Labor Movement to protect our democracy.
Tuesday Night: Sometimes we all need a night off—and this was one of them.
Insanity in Missouri: We walked you through the complicated legal terrain involved in the challenge to gerrymandered maps in Missouri. Tl;dr: the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the voters for a change, which means Missouri will use its preexisting maps and there will be a referendum on whether to adopt the new ones. We don’t always lose at SCOTUS.
An Update: The First Circuit Protects Voting By Mail From the Trump Administration: Thursday brought good news when the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Talwani’s injunction that prevents the administration, at least for the midterm elections, from putting its plans to interfere with mail voting into effect. We went through the court’s opinion and how it sets the table for SCOTUS, where this case will undoubtedly be headed.
Five Questions with Judd Legum: Independent journalist Judd Legum has reported on a new scam in which Elon Musk is spending millions of dollars pushing Americans to VoteSafe, which advertises itself as a voter registration site but is actually a digital surveillance machine. He joined us to discuss this scheme that preys on Americans—and what we can do about it.
How DOJ Transformed After 9/11 with Barb McQuade and Mimi Rocah: Friday night, my friends, former prosecutors Mimi Rocah and Barb McQuadejoined me to discuss their experiences on 9/11 and what came afterward, as the Justice Department and the FBI underwent a rapid transformation. I hope you’ll take a few moments to watch if you weren’t able to join us live. I was profoundly moved by the comments of these two wise, kind women.
On Being an American: Donald Trump doesn’t make me less proud of my country. He just makes me more determined to fight for it.
These are complicated legal times, and it’s easy for the truth to get lost in the chaos. Civil Discourse doesn’t just track today’s headlines—it connects them to the legal and political history 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
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