Federalist Radio Hour

'Overruled,' Ep. 1: Where Lawfare Came From And How It Rules The World

5 snips
Sep 14, 2026
Carrie Severino, Judicial Crisis Network president and former Thomas clerk; Cleta Mitchell, election-integrity lawyer; and Ronald Pestritto, Hillsdale scholar of the administrative state, join a sweeping look at lawfare. They trace its roots through progressive courts and bureaucracy, examine prosecutions and election interference, and explore the conservative legal movement’s fight to restore constitutional self-government.
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INSIGHT

The Dictionary Definition Of Lawfare

  • The Oxford English Dictionary defines lawfare as legal action used to exert control, damage opponents, or obstruct them bureaucratically.
  • Its historical framing connects lawfare to warfare, showing that legal systems can function as covert weapons.
INSIGHT

Lawfare Turns Politics Into Unrestricted Warfare

  • Lawfare uses legal systems not to administer justice but to impose unrestricted political conflict on opponents.
  • Pullman contrasts ordinary tax-policy disagreement with debanking, public shaming, and destroying someone’s family life.
ANECDOTE

Protesters Paid A Huge Price For Winning

  • Alex Swoyer describes Texas protesters prosecuted under the Ku Klux Klan Act for countering a Biden campaign bus.
  • They won at trial, but years of litigation and hundreds of thousands of dollars punished their protected speech.
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