Talking Feds

The stage seems just about set for us to get the answer from the Supreme Court whether it will permit the judiciary to get rolled by an administration looking to use the label "foreign policy" to avoid all accountability. Elsewhere, the administration’s campaign to take control of large civil institutions hit a roadblock with a pushback from Harvard. Jon Alter, Susan Glasser, and Katie Phang join Harry to take stock of how far from the private precipice we are and our prospects for going over.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Mark Tushnet, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and one of the country’s leading constitutional scholars. After a brief discussion about his new book, “Who Am I To Judge,” the two dive in to the law and politics of the Trump administration assault on elite universities, in particular Harvard and Columbia. Tushnet explains why he thinks that the Administrations’ broad-gauged demands are unconstitutional on several grounds, including a somewhat underdeveloped principle in the law of fit between Government objection and proposed remedy, i.e. here that the administration is stating concerns about antisemitism to justify an extremely broad range of demanded changes. Tushnet describes the fervent opposition on campus and in the Harvard alumni community to the Administration’s demands, and lays out Harvard's overall strategic thinking in the short, medium, and long terms. The two then turn to the very different response from Columbia, including discussion of the Administration’s apparent consideration of a very novel approach to continuing supervision of the university under the model previous Departments of Justice have employed for corrupt police departments.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It was a week in which Trump’s broad and malign influence on civil society took another giant step forward. He single-handedly brought the economy to the edge of a recession w/ erratic and ill-considered tariffs; commandeered several more large law firms; initiated criminal investigations of two former officials for daring to oppose his views; and issued an executive order on showerhead pressure. A fantastic panel of Jason Kander, Zoe Lofgren, and Charlie Sykes joins Harry to break it all down.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Dr. Kavita Patel, professor of medicine at Stanford and a previous official overseeing public health in the Obama Administration. In the short tenure of Robert F Kennedy, Trump’s controversial head of HHS, we have seen several potential national and international health crises, involving measles, bird flu, and tuberculosis. Dr. Patel discusses all of them, and explains what a traditional federal government approach would be to each and the contrasting and frightening approach of Kennedy and the Trump Administration. The two end by discussing a potential parade of horribles to which Kennedy’s stewardship of the nation’s public health system could give riseSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Many federal agencies have new leadership that are hostile to the career personnel. For this special episode, we go inside the DOJ, or as close as we can, w/ the help of 2 of the country’s most respected reporters, Devlin Barrett and Evan Perez, and a recent DOJ exile, Stacey Young, who has an organization to help her erstwhile colleagues. We get a concrete sense of what life & work are like now; the day-to-day relationships b/t new guard and the old staff; & the state of mind of the workforce.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Jake Auchincloss, a relatively young Demoratic member of the House who is drawing a lot of attention for his ideas about how the Party needs to proceed to win back a majority of the American people. They first discuss the issue of Generation-Z men, who are shaping up to be a conservative cohort of Republicans for the next 50 years. Auchincloss believes there are ways to provide them attractive alternatives without in any way mimicking or appropriating the MAGA rhetoric. Auchincloss follows up with his own defining themes, leading with housing, as well as corrections to democratic processes (such as the elimination of gerrymandering), that he believes could drive a shift back to Democrats. One concrete opportunity for multiple reforms could come from 2026-28, if the party establishes majorities in Congress and Trump is a lame duck. Auchincloss’s overall prescription for the party is it needs to focus on economic opportunities and an “abundance agenda” to contrast favorably to the overall scarcity ideology that has come to dominate the Republican Party.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After revealing details of a military operation on a Signal group chat that included a reporter, the Administration circled the wagons, minimizing the episode & declining to undertake a real investigation. A terrific panel of Jonathan Alter, Alisyn Camerota, & David French joins Harry to discuss the potential political & legal fallout. We then take up the effort to whisk people to a hellhole prison in El Salvador, inc the courts’ pushback, and end w/ general thoughts about the state of the UnionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry talks with Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, about the possibly imminent introduction by House of the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” (SAVE) Act. The legislation, which passed the House last year but wasn’t taken up in the Senate, would require every citizen registering or re-registering to vote to produce a birth certificate or passport in order to vote. It’s defended as a way to ferret out voting by non-citizens, but that turns out to be a virtually non-existent problem, as does the casual charges by Trump and others of widespread voting fraud. The effect, and likely intent, of the legislation would be to disproportionately disenfranchise Democrats. Waldman explains the manifold problems the SAVE Act would engender, including huge headaches for state and local authorities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The week featured the expansion of Trump’s shakedowns of prominent sectors of civil society. The legal industry was stunned when prominent law firm Paul Weiss agreed to terms to in order to get Trump to withdraw a blackballing order. Columbia U. also capitulated to Trump’s demands to save $400 million in federal grants. Where does it stop? A great panel of Emily Bazelon, Susan Glasser, & Carol Leonnig joins Harry to dig into that issue and the brighter side of highlights of the legal landscape.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harry sits down with Steven Pinker, who wears many intellectual hats, all well: linguist, psychologist, political philosopher, historian, and social critic, for starters. After some brief discussion of his childhood and background, they dive into Pinker’s best-selling “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” (Bill Gates’s favorite book at the time), “Enlightenment Now,” and Rationality” (Bill Gates’s new favorite book). In those works, Pinker lay out an argument that by and large, in fits and starts, society is advancing incrementally in health, safety, knowledge, and other key benchmarks of Enlightenment values. The two also touch on Pinker’s strong if idiosyncratic views about writing (he rejects much of modern pedantry about correct usage); his original Promethean work in linguistics; and his views about certain human cognitive biases. A wide-ranging and provocative discussion with one of the great public intellectuals of our time.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.