Main Justice

There’s a pattern to Andrew and Mary’s focus this week: lies, lies and more lies. They gather in-person to tackle a host of issues and to celebrate the release of Andrew’s new book, “Liar’s Kingdom.” After digging into the book’s thesis, they hone in on the biggest news of the week: the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” created by the Justice Department as part of a settlement agreement which, according to the Attorney General, would provide a non-partisan “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.” But as Mary and Andrew note, the real goal is to compensate Trump allies who claim they were wrongfully prosecuted by the former administration. They then shift to the DOJ’s lawsuit against the DC Bar to block punishments for Trump officials, including Jeffrey Clark, the former Acting Assistant Attorney General in the final months of Trump’s first term. Next, the co-hosts touch on last week’s oral arguments in the government’s appeal of the ruling against Trump’s attempt to blacklist four law firms, before moving to the ongoing litigation in Judge Boasberg’s attempt to hold contempt proceedings.

 

This podcast is also available on YouTube at ms.now/mainjustice. Be sure to check it out: this week features video of Mary and Andrew in-person together.

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Mary and Andrew recognize it’s been a doozy of a week. Starting with the continued fallout from the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, they focus on how much the 6-3 ruling has opened the floodgates for other states like Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Texas to pursue similar redistricting efforts. The Justices even allowed Alabama to move forward with re-drawing their congressional maps, despite prior determinations of intentional racial discrimination in the state. Mary and Andrew juxtapose this new landscape with last week’s redistricting decision in Virginia, as Democrats submit an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on that ruling. In addition, a Fulton County decision came in allowing the Justice Department to hold onto the 2020 ballots seized in the FBI’s January raid. Plus, the co-hosts unpack the latest from Trump’s retribution efforts as James Comey’s criminal trial date is set. But in an uplifting end to a rough week, the pair highlight Senator Mark Kelly’s argument before the DC Circuit in his case against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his participation in a video reminding military members of their duty not to obey unlawful orders.

This podcast is also available on YouTube at ms.now/mainjustice.

Further reading:

Here is the Just Security piece on Senator Mark Kelly’s case: Lessons from the Pentagon’s Empty Case Against Mark Kelly 

 

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AI – and coverage of it – is everywhere. But what is artificial intelligence, really, beyond the buzzword? Each week, in a special new miniseries - ‘The AI End Game’ - Chris Hayes is joined by preeminent experts on AI and its effects to help make sense of this revolutionary time in history.

The series will feature in-depth conversations with experts, including: The Atlantic journalist Derek Thompson; professor at Wharton and New York Times bestselling author Ethan Mollick, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and member of the Berkeley AI Research Group Alison Gopnik; former co-lead of the Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team at Google and co-founder of Black in AI Timnit Gebru; philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers; author, host of the “Better Offline” podcast and writer of the “Where's Your Ed At” newsletter, Ed Zitron; The New York Times journalist and author, Michael Pollan, and more. The first episode is available now wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Mary and Andrew begin this week by highlighting another questionable indictment of former FBI Director James Comey over a photo of seashells that he posted on Instagram. The indictment alleges that a “reasonable person” would interpret that the shells in the picture, arranged to spell out “86 47,” represent “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.” Then, a win for Director Comey’s daughter Maurene, after a federal judge cleared the path for her wrongful termination suit against the Trump administration to proceed. Next, Mary and Andrew analyze the latest filings by the Southern Poverty Law Center and why whistleblowers are flagging their concern that the recent indictment was rushed. And before wrapping up, they break down the Supreme Court’s consequential ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which effectively hollows out the last remnants of the Voting Rights Act by striking down a redistricting effort that was aiming to ensure an equal opportunity for representation in the state.

This podcast is also available on YouTube at ms.now/mainjustice.

Further reading:

Here is the SCOTUS 6-3 decision: Louisiana v. Callais

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This week, Mary and Andrew follow the money from Alabama to New York to Southern Florida. They start with an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center alleging financial crimes and defrauding donors — the DOJ suggesting that the center’s goal was to give funding to extremist groups rather than to report on them. The co-hosts find the charges dubious at best, with a speaking indictment that seems “weak” and lacks specifics. From there, they analyze another set of charges out of the SDNY against an Army soldier who won over $400,000 in online bets using his classified knowledge of the US capture of Nicolas Maduro. After reviewing the merits of that case, they head to Miami, where President Trump’s civil suit against the IRS was put on pause to discern how to handle him being on both sides of the case. As Mary notes, the judge is asking Trump to essentially “show me we really have adverse parties here.”Then to DC, for a look at the charges filed against the alleged gunman in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, and how the administration quickly used that as another reason to build the White House ballroom in an unusual court filing. And last up, Andrew and Mary review the DC Circuit’s decision on Trump’s asylum ban.

This podcast is also available on YouTube at ms.now/mainjustice.

Further reading:

Here is Andrew’s piece on the SPLC indictment: The Poverty of the DOJ Indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center

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