Chris Hedges: Assessing The Political Landscape In 2026

What we are going to do in this segment of todays Law and Disorder is learn the thinking of our guest on the following questions. Is there a meaningful ceasefire in Gaza? When will the Palestinians have their own sovereign nation? Is it reasonable to still designate America as a democracy? Is President Trump an authoritarian and would-be dictator? Is it quite possible that the 2026 mid-term elections will be cancelled or so demeaned as to be totally unrepresentative of the true will of the American people?

Guest - Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, and the former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times. Among his more than a dozen books are American Fascism: The Christian Right and the War on America; The Greatest Evil Is War; and A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine. Chris Hedges is also one of the contributors to the book titled From the Flag to the Cross: Fascism American Style, a book composed of summaries of interviews with guests here on the Law and Disorder radio show, and available for purchase at O/R Books.

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Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand

Hitlers fascist organization came to power in Germany. It employed the violence of Hitlers storm troopers. There is a parallel today with President Trump's administration and the MAGA people employing the violence of ICE to terrorize people in our large cities. Hitler tried unsuccessfully to distance himself from the violence of the storm troopers. He was not successful because of the brilliant cross examination by German attorney Hans Litten, who put Hitler on the stand and subjected him to a devastating three hour cross examination.Today we re-broadcast Law and Disorder founding cohost attorney, Michael Ratner's interview with Benjamin Carter Hett, the history professor who wrote the book Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand.

Author Benjamin Hett outlines the fascinating and tragic story of a young lawyer Hans Litten in his recent book Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand. Before the Nazis rose to power in the early 1930s, they incited calculated violence among the working class in German taverns. Four Nazi stormtroopers were charged with firing randomly into a dance hall where a communist hiking club were holding a party. Three young men were wounded. Hans Litton was the advocate for the 3 men.

Hans Litten called Hitler to the witness stand to show that the Nazi party was a violent party, and by cross examining Hitler he tried to prove that. Litten forced Hitler to contradict himself, reducing him to humiliating rage that revealed his true intention. At that time, Hitler wanted to be a legal party in Germany and of course you couldnt be a party that was extra-constitutional and legal but at the same time he didnt want to disappoint the base of his party which was this violent working class aspect. Two years later, the Nazi Party rose to power.

What came after the Reichstag Fire was the arrest of about 5 thousand people across Germany who the Nazis have identified as opponents or potential opponents. Hans Litten was among them and sent to a concentration camp. Author Benjamin Hett describes a powerful narrative of Hans facing torture yet still telling stories and teaching art to other prisoners.Hans Litten was born in 1903 in Halle in Central Germany, his father was a law professor and Jewish but converted to German evangelical (Lutheran).

Guest " Benjamin Hett, author of Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand. Hett is a former trial lawyer, and now Associate Professor of History at Hunter College.

Dear Hosts / Board Engineers, if possible please mention this update before the broadcast. Thank you, co-host Stephen Rohde.

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On Friday, following the taping of todays show, the UK High Court ruled that the ban on Palestine Action, which we examine, was unlawful. Our guest Fahad Ansari released this statement: "With jurors repeatedly refusing to convict individuals for smashing up Israeli weapons factories and now the High Court quashing the governments proscription of a group dedicated to that goal, it is evident that the British public overwhelmingly opposes Britains support for Israeli genocide.

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British Movement Lawyer Exposes Being Targeted By Senior Politicians and Cointel Police

When repressive governments around the world attack their own people and liberal democracies fight back, some of the first responders are movement lawyers. Unlike cowardly law firms that capitulate in advance, as we have seen here in the United States, movement lawyers work hand-in-hand with activists not merely challenging what the government is doing but putting the government itself on trial.

The roots of movement lawyering in the United States can be traced back to the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, where lawyers challenged laws that upheld segregation and other forms of discrimination. These lawyers used the legal system not just as a passive tool but as an active agent of change. They helped litigate landmark cases that desegregated schools, secured voting rights, dismantled discriminatory laws, challenged draft laws and questioned the legality of the Vietnam War.

The founders of this program Law and Disorder, Michael Ratner, Michael Smith, Jim Lafferty, and Heidi Boghosian are all prominent movement lawyers.

But movement lawyers are not confined to the United States.

Guest- Fahad Ansari, is a senior civil liberties solicitor based in London. As a movement lawyer, he developed a niche in representing individuals and communities affected by counter-terrorism legislation, state surveillance, and discriminatory policing. His career has been defined by taking on some of Britains most sensitive cases including representing those stripped of their citizenship on grounds of national security and representing Hamas in its 2025 application to be removed from the British governments list of proscribed terrorist organizations.

The Hamas case resulted in Ansari being smeared by senior politicians and targeted by British counter-terrorism police and the government agency that regulates the practice of law in the UK.

On August 6, 2025, Ansari was stopped by officers at the port of Holyhead as he returned from a family holiday in Ireland with his wife and four children. Ansari said the bulk of the questioning was about Palestine Action, a group recently proscribed under the Terrorism Act. He was also asked about Hamas but refused to answer, citing client confidentiality. Ansari said he was held by police for three hours, fingerprinted, photographed and swabbed for DNA and told to remove his face ID and pin from his phone or face arrest. The following day, the contents of his phone were copied by the police.

Ansari said that In the decade that I have been involved in national security cases, I have never heard of lawyers in England being targeted to this extent because of their clients. Some have complained that representing Hamas brings the profession into disrepute. Yet, what really undermines the integrity of the profession is when unpopular clients are unable to secure legal representation because of fear of public opprobrium and state intimidation.

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Michigan Movement Lawyer Mark Fancher

As we celebrate Black History Month, conversations often drift toward a comfortable, sanitized narrative of progress. But our guest today, Mark Fancher, has spent his career in the uncomfortable spaces where the struggle for racial justice remains ongoing, contested, and" for far too many communities"urgent.

Mark recently retired as Senior Staff Attorney with the Racial Justice Project of the ACLU of Michigan. But his commitment to justice did not begin there. A longtime leader in the National Conference of Black Lawyers and an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, he has devoted decades to challenging the systems that produce inequality"not merely documenting them.

In Michigan, those systems are stark, and those injustices are often enforced by the badge. Black residents comprise roughly 14 percent of the states population, yet account for nearly half of those incarcerated. That disparity is not incidental. It reflects policies, practices, and policing strategies entrenched over generations. Mark has litigated the human consequences behind those numbers"from confronting a culture of brutality in the City of Taylor, which he described as functioning like an occupying army, to defending Black officers such as Johnny Strickland, who faced retaliation within their own departments for speaking out.

Mark is no stranger to the friction that truth-telling provokes. More than a decade ago, at a Unity Breakfast in Muskegon, his remarks about white privilege and police misconduct prompted audience members to walk out. He was labeled divisive. But as Mark reminded them then"and reminds us now"Dr. King did not preach comfort. He taught the oppressed to confront injustice without fear and without retreat.

How to Stop a Nuclear War - Part 2

Two weeks ago, we spoke with award-winning journalist and filmmaker Paul Jay about his upcoming documentary, How to Stop a Nuclear War. Scheduled for release in fall 2027, the film draws on in-depth interviews with Daniel Ellsberg and is narrated by Emma Thompson. It examines just how close humanity has come to nuclear catastrophe " and why Ellsbergs decades-long warnings about nuclear policy and power remain urgently relevant today.

We ran out of time in that conversation, so were very glad to welcome Paul Jay back to the show to pick up where we left off. Today, well continue our discussion about the ongoing nuclear threat, how its shaped by political and corporate interests, and what the public needs to understand in order to push for meaningful change.

Guest " Paul Jay, award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and founder of theAnalysis.news. Jay has spent decades investigating the inner workings of government, corporate power, and military policy, combining investigative rigor with a storytellers clarity. He is currently working on a new project, How to Stop a Nuclear War, a groundbreaking documentary set to be released in the fall of 2027 based on extensive interviews with Daniel Ellsberg and narrated by Emma Thomson. Through rare interviews and in-depth research, the film examines how close humanity has come to nuclear catastrophe"and why Ellsbergs warnings remain urgently relevant today.

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New York City Council Member Organizes Against ICE Raids

We are at a turning point in the history of the United States. If the people in the city of Minneapolis, can defeat ICE, they will have demonstrated they can win anywhere. This is a strong momentum in rolling back fascism here in the USA. ICE, above all, is criticized as being a terrorist outfit with a purpose to terrorize the population. Yet in contrast, ICE claims to be looking to capture and deport illegal immigrant criminals. It has a massive budget of $179 billion for the next three years. They have sent 3000 agents into Minneapolis and outnumber the Minneapolis police force five to one.

Two weeks ago, Renee Good, a poet and mother of three children was murdered during a confrontation with ICE agents. The official claim is that shed threatened an ICE agent with her car. Last week Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at the VA hospital was murdered during an anti-ICE protest. Did Kristi Noem, the Trump appointed head of the Department of Homeland Security lied when she said that Pretti was out to massacre ICE agents? Both murders were filmed by people in Minneapolis and showed widely online and on television, exposing ICE for what it is, and the government for the false narratives it attempts to spread.

If they can get away with it in Minneapolis it will spread fear in Los Angeles and New York, or Philadelphia and Memphis, Washington DC and Portland, Maine, or everywhere and anywhere. Despite ICEs huge budget of billions, it can be defeated. The actions of the people of Minneapolis have inspired communities with hope. And without hope, we tend to do nothing.

What can we do to resist and defeat ICE? The people of Minneapolis have shown the way. Theyve created a network of people working together, providing aid and support, block by block, Signal chat by Signal chat. Theyve provided food for those afraid to leave their homes, driven their kids to school, protested in the streets constantly, no matter how extreme the cold weather.

Guest - Alexa Aviles is a socialist and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (the DSA). She was born in Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children. She came to the United States as a young girl. Aviles attended Columbia University and recieved her Masters degree in public administration. Shes the mother of two daughters. Before being elected to her position on the City Council in 2021, she worked for decades in social justice work. She was elected to the City Council five years ago and ran on a platform supporting affordable housing, workers rights, immigrants, and environmental health. Shes Chair of the Immigration Committee of the Council. She represents the heavily immigrant neighborhood of Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York, and has been organizing against ICE.

Notes: Dear station managers and program directors, please let us know when you air this program. We would love to count your station among our affiliates. Feel free to contact us through the contact page at lawanddisorder.org

Please check to see if your station is on Law and Disorder's affiliate list.

https://lawanddisorder.org/stations/

If your station isn't on this list let us know through the contact page.

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We will add your station and welcome you on air

250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence Signing

2026 is the 250th anniversary of signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States of America. Festivities and events are being organized all over the country all year long. Here at Law and Disorder, we intend to invite guests throughout 2026 who can help us explore the Founding of our country in a way that is truthful, authentic, and comprehensive.

But like so much else in these dangerous times, President Donald Trump is ruining this rare opportunity to celebrate the enduring values of pluralism, justice, and equality on which this country was founded.

Instead, Trump is enlisting the entire federal government and billions of public and private dollars into converting this national anniversary into an opportunity to whitewash American history, pursuing his obsession to destroy diversity, equity and inclusion; crushing institutions like the Smithsonian Museums, that for 175 years have served as a welcoming place of knowledge and discovery for all Americans; and imposing his reactionary vision of White Christian nationalism.

Seeing how Trump is already exploiting the 250th anniversary of the Founding by peddling his distorted version of American history, our very own co-host Steve Rohde has been investigating what Trump is doing and how the rest of us need to redouble our efforts to immerse ourselves and the American people in an accurate and comprehensive account of our history.

Guest - Stephen Rohde is a writer, lecturer and political activist. For almost 50 years, he practiced civil rights, civil liberties, and intellectual property law. He is a past chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and past National Chair of Bend the Arc, a Jewish Partnership for Justice. He is a founder and current chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace; member of the Board of Directors of Death Penalty Focus, and a member of the Black Jewish Justice Alliance. He is the Special Advisor on Free Speech and the First Amendment for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Mr. Rohde is the author of the books American Words of Freedom: The Words That Define Our Nation and Freedom of Assembly and numerous articles and book reviews on civil liberties and constitutional history. He is a co-host of Law and Disorder Radio and Podcast. His new podcast Speaking Freely: Exploring the First Amendment with Stephen Rohde is available on Spotify. Rohde's articles and book reviews can be found at Muck Rack | For journalists and public relations.

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Protesters Converge in Minneapolis Amid Tragic Aftermath

On a sub-zero afternoon on January 23, thousands gathered in Minneapolis to demand an end to ICE deportations and to confront the human cost of immigration enforcement. Many called openly for the abolition of ICE. Faculty, students, union members, and community organizers stood shoulder to shoulder in the freezing cold"bundled beyond recognition, passing out signs and hand warmers, chanting ICE OUT as Prince played over loudspeakers. It was a show of collective resolve: people braving the cold to insist on dignity, safety, and solidarity.

What made the day especially striking was how far people traveled to be there. Faculty drove hours across Minnesota; others flew in from across the country. Among them was Sandor John, a faculty leader from the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY, who came with students to stand alongside Minnesota educators and labor organizers. A small button reading Education Not Deportation captured the deeper message: this was not only about immigration policy, but about who belongs and whose labor is valued.

The conversation unfolded in the shadow of tragedy. The march occurred just one day before Minneapolis became the scene of another fatal encounter between federal immigration agents and a resident"37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents during an enforcement action. His death, and that of Renee Good, underscored that immigration enforcement is not an abstract policy debate. Its a system with deadly consequences for people, including Black Americans, in the community.

Guest - Sandor John joins us today to describe what he saw on the ground in Minneapolis. Sandor is on the faculty at the City University of New Yorks Hunter College. Hes a member of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) faculty/staff union there and of the PSCs Immigrant Solidarity Working Group.

How to Stop a Nuclear War

In 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock to draw attention to the existential dangers posed by human technology. The time was set to seven minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolizing destruction of life on Earth. Just two years before, in 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world saw firsthand the potential of a nuclear annihilation.

As World War II was ending, a different kind of conflict was underway: the Cold War. And over the next four decades, the United States and Soviet Union competed for nuclear dominance"not only through foreign policy and military strategy, but also on the home front, using propaganda and retaliation against critics. Throughout this period, people of conscience, like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in the early 70s, repeatedly sounded the alarm. Ellsberg and others warned that there was no way to win a nuclear war. If one side launched a nuclear weapon, the other would inevitably respond, leading to mutual destruction.

Today, more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race continues. According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, nine nations continue to stockpile nuclear weapons, including the US, Russia, China, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, France, the United Kingdom, and North Korea.

Last January, a week after Donald Trump began his second term as president, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock forward to 89 seconds to midnight"the closest humanity has ever come to global catastrophe. The Bulletin announced that it will update the time this week. Whether the clock is set closer to midnight or not, the question remains: Is there time and the will to change our trajectory, to learn from the past, and avoid a path to global destruction?

Guest - Paul Jay, award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and founder of theAnalysis.news. Jay has spent decades investigating the inner workings of government, corporate power, and military policy, combining investigative rigor with a storytellers clarity. He is currently working on a new project, How to Stop a Nuclear War, a groundbreaking documentary set to be released in the fall of 2027 based on extensive interviews with Daniel Ellsberg and narrated by Emma Thomson. Through rare interviews and in-depth research, the film examines how close humanity has come to nuclear catastrophe"and why Ellsberg's warnings remain urgently relevant today.

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The Imperial Bureau: the FBI, Political Surveillance, and the Rise of the US National Security State.

The forces of American fascism are rapidly consolidating in our country. It is chilling to think that President Trump has only been an office for one year. American fascism is considered to be a unity of the MAGA forces around Trump and certain billionaire sectors of the capitalist class. Their project, like those of the Nazis in Germany, is what the Germans called Gleichschaltung meaning bringing into line.

In America,independent centers of power have been brought into line. Universities, the large law firms, the media and much of the court system. The Supreme Court is now subservient to the dictates of the Trump administration. President Trump is working to get more people and institutions to knuckle under. We talk today about the threat to crush the left with the recent issuance of his National Security Presidential Memorandum 7. It is known as NSPM7.

The genius of the U.S. Constitution, which limited power by setting up a system of checks and balances, has been sidestepped as President Trump now essentially rules by executive order. The Supreme Court uses the shadow docket to avoid public consideration of cases involving liberty.

Congress is not consulted about declaring war as President Trump ordered the secret bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of its leader and his wife. The Voting Rights Bill has been gutted. Its not illegal for big corporations to contribute any amount of money they want. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are subservient to big capital. The old form of democracy, however, limited by race and class, has almost disintegrated.

In the recent months, the world has watched as ICE has terrorized populations in major American cities. Already its budget is $11 billion. They are seeking to hire another 10,000 recruits. The DHS vetting process has recently come under scrutiny revealing it as careless and negligent. Some are recruited from gun shows. Recruits are given a $50,000 signing bonus with salaries ranging from $49,000-$89,000 a year. NSPM7 supplemented by the Attorney Generals memorandum targets among others those who speak out against racism, war, injustice, misogyny, capitalism and white Christian nationalism.

Guest - Chip Gibbons has written about NSPM 7. Mr. Gibbons is the Policy Director of Defending Rights and Dissent. His organization has awareness of the perils of this memorandum. He edits the Gaza First Amendment Alert. He is also the author of the forthcoming book The Imperial Bureau: the FBI, Political Surveillance, and the Rise of the US National Security State.

How to Stop a Nuclear War

In 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock to draw attention to the existential dangers posed by human technology. The time was set to seven minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolizing destruction of life on Earth. Just two years before, in 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world saw firsthand the potential of a nuclear annihilation.

As World War II was ending, a different kind of conflict was underway: the Cold War. And over the next four decades, the United States and Soviet Union competed for nuclear dominance"not only through foreign policy and military strategy, but also on the home front, using propaganda and retaliation against critics. Throughout this period, people of conscience, like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in the early 70s, repeatedly sounded the alarm. Ellsberg and others warned that there was no way to win a nuclear war. If one side launched a nuclear weapon, the other would inevitably respond, leading to mutual destruction.

Today, more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race continues. According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, nine nations continue to stockpile nuclear weapons, including the US, Russia, China, Israel, Pakistan, France, the United Kingdom, and North Korea.

Last January, a week after Donald Trump began his second term as president, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock forward to 89 seconds to midnight"the closest humanity has ever come to global catastrophe. The Bulletin announced that it will update the time this week. Whether the clock is set closer to midnight or not, the question remains: Is there time and the will to change our trajectory, to learn from the past, and avoid a path to global destruction?

Guest - Paul Jay, award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and founder of theAnalysis.news. Jay has spent decades investigating the inner workings of government, corporate power, and military policy, combining investigative rigor with a storytellers clarity. He is currently working on a new project, How to Stop a Nuclear War, a groundbreaking documentary set to be released in the fall of 2027 based on extensive interviews with Daniel Ellsberg and narrated by Emma Thomson. Through rare interviews and in-depth research, the film examines how close humanity has come to nuclear catastrophe"and why Ellsberg's warnings remain urgently relevant today.

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The Imperial Bureau: the FBI, Political Surveillance, and the Rise of the US National Security State.

The forces of American fascism are rapidly consolidating in our country. It is chilling to think that President Trump has only been an office for one year. American fascism is considered to be a unity of the MAGA forces around Trump and certain billionaire sectors of the capitalist class. Their project, like those of the Nazis in Germany, is what the Germans called Gleichschaltung meaning bringing into line.

In America,independent centers of power have been brought into line. Universities, the large law firms, the media and much of the court system. The Supreme Court is now subservient to the dictates of the Trump administration. President Trump is working to get more people and institutions to knuckle under. We talk today about the threat to crush the left with the recent issuance of his National Security Presidential Memorandum 7. It is known as NSPM7.

The genius of the U.S. Constitution, which limited power by setting up a system of checks and balances, has been sidestepped as President Trump now essentially rules by executive order. The Supreme Court uses the shadow docket to avoid public consideration of cases involving liberty.

Congress is not consulted about declaring war as President Trump ordered the secret bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of its leader and his wife. The Voting Rights Bill has been gutted. Its not illegal for big corporations to contribute any amount of money they want. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are subservient to big capital. The old form of democracy, however, limited by race and class, has almost disintegrated.

In the recent months, the world has watched as ICE has terrorized populations in major American cities. Already its budget is $11 billion. They are seeking to hire another 10,000 recruits. The DHS vetting process has recently come under scrutiny revealing it as careless and negligent. Some are recruited from gun shows. Recruits are given a $50,000 signing bonus with salaries ranging from $49,000-$89,000 a year. NSPM7 supplemented by the Attorney Generals memorandum targets among others those who speak out against racism, war, injustice, misogyny, capitalism and white Christian nationalism.

Guest - Chip Gibbons has written about NSPM 7. Mr. Gibbons is the Policy Director of Defending Rights and Dissent. His organization has awareness of the perils of this memorandum. He edits the Gaza First Amendment Alert. He is also the author of the forthcoming book The Imperial Bureau: the FBI, Political Surveillance, and the Rise of the US National Security State.

Notes: Dear station managers and program directors, please let us know when you air this program. We would love to count your station among our affiliates. Feel free to contact us through the contact page at lawanddisorder.org

Please check to see if your station is on Law and Disorder's affiliate list.

https://lawanddisorder.org/stations/

If your station isn't on this list let us know through the contact page.

https://lawanddisorder.org/contact-us/

We will add your station and welcome you on air

Federal Funding Capitulation: Northwestern Joins Columbia and Brown University

The day after Thanksgiving last year, in an deserved win for Donald Trump and a sad loss for higher education, Northwestern University joined Columbia and Brown universities by capitulating to Trump's yearlong campaign to bribe American colleges and universities into paying ransom to restore millions of dollars of federal research grants he had illegally suspended on the pretext that the universities had failed to adequately monitor antisemitism on their campuses. Northwestern agreed to pay the Trump administration $75 million and entered into a three-year settlement agreement containing a host of provisions seriously impairing Northwestern's educational independence and academic freedom.

Within days of the settlement, two law professors from Northwestern's own law school, Heidi Kitrosser and Paul Gowder, went public alleging that the agreement was illegal and unconstitutional. They wrote: "Our analysis lays bare that the government's extortion of Northwestern "unlawfully freezing funds to force the university to make a 'deal' " has nothing to do with actual legal violations at Northwestern (which, if they existed, could and should have been addressed through established legal channels), and everything to do with a campaign to encroach on the autonomy of Northwestern and other institutions of higher education, and to impose on them the Trump Administrations reactionary political agenda."

Guest - Heidi Kitrosser is the William W. Gurley Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She is an expert on the constitutional law, government secrecy and free speech law. Her book, Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution, was awarded the 2014 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law / Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize. She is a 2017 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Prof Kitrosser has been involved in drafting several amicus briefs in recent years challenging threats to free speech, academic freedom, and government accountability. She is also a founding steering committee member of the Free Expression Legal Network. FELN is a network of law school clinics, academics, and practitioners (including nonprofits) across the country that seeks to promote and protect free speech, free press, and the flow of information.

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Prairieland Case Labeled First Prosecution of Antifa

On July 4, a small group of people gathered in front of the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. They were protesting in solidarity with immigrants and ICE detainees, using noise and fireworks"ordinary tools on Independence Day. Police later claimed that an Alvarado officer was involved in an exchange of gunfire after arriving near the protest, sustaining minor injuries. Six months later, authorities have still not produced hospital records substantiating those claims.

Despite that, a federal grand jury in Fort Worth indicted nine people in connection with the July protest/ Seven others were charged separately. Charges include rioting, use of weapons and explosives, obstruction, providing material support to terrorists, and attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer and unarmed correctional officers.

The Trump administration has publicly framed the Prairieland case as the first prosecution of Antifa. On September 25, the White House issued a directive ordering federal law enforcement to prioritize so-called Antifa-linked activity as domestic terrorism. Kash Patel has echoed that framing, publicly labeling the defendants Antifa-aligned anarchist violent extremists.

Guest - Dario Sanchez, one of the defendants. A computer science teacher, Dario is caretaking for his injured partner since 2024. He was arrested at a pre-dawn raid on their home with no resistance. https://prairielanddefendants.com/

Placeless: Homelessness in the New Gilded Age

Being homeless is not a reflection on the inadequacy of a person. It is not a moral issue even though right wing figures such as President Trumps former lawyer Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, and Andrew Cuomo, the failed candidate for mayor in the 2025 election in New York City maintain that essentially cruel position. They were against giving people subsidized homes and treatment, if they required it, for health problems, addiction problems, or job training.

Homelessness is a consequence of housing affordability, inequality, systemic, racism and pro-capitalist government policies. It is more profitable for the real estate industry to build housing for the rich rather than the poor. There is more profit in luxury housing, not so much in working class housing. New York City is the greatest example of the homeless situation that exists throughout the USA. On any one night 130,000 people sleep in shelters. 90% of them are Black or Latino. One out of seven children in New York City public schools are homeless.

Guest - Patrick Markee has written a powerful, moving, common sense account of a social problem whose solution is entirely possible. His book Placeless: Homelessness in the New Gilded Age is an eloquent rendering of the plight of human beings who I dont have a home, they dont have a place in our world. Mr. Markee has had more than 20 years of experience working as an advocate for homeless people in New York City and his work with housing across the country. He is the former Deputy Executive Director for advocacy of the Coalition for the Homeless., New Yorks premier homeless advocacy organization and a member the Board of Directors with the National Coalition for the Homeless. He is the author numerous research studies on homelessness and housing policy and has written for The Nation and The New York Times book review.

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Hard Regime Change In Venezuela

Barely into the new year in the early morning hours of January 3 the Trump administration successfully and brutally and illegally attacked Venezuela kidnapping the president and his wife. 80 people were killed including 32 Cuban soldiers. They flew Nicols Maduro and his wife attorney Celia Flores to a Brooklyn jail. The plan is to try them in an American court in lower Manhattan on the laughable pretext, they were drug runners whose country stole American oil. And further, according to President Trump, hordes of Venezuela killers and murderers and rapists were released across American borders to savage American citizens.

That next morning, we woke up to arrogant boastings of Trump and his his secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, whose body is tattooed with a huge crusader cross, that they plan to run Venezuela, make lots of money reclaim their oil and give it to the multi-national corporations such as ExxonMobil to exploit.The United Nations was organized after World War II to prevent precisely what has happened. Aggressive war was outlawed. The War Powers Act-was passed by the U.S. Congress, a half century ago, precisely to prevent secret aggression against foreign countries and required congressional approval, which was not sought or obtained prior to the invasion.

Protest against this invasion continue across the United States. People took the streets, remembering how the war on Iraq, which killed 1 million people was fought allegedly that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which is known to be a lie.

Guest - Jeff Mackler is the National Secretary of the U.S. political party, Socialist Action and its candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2016 and 2020. He is a member of the Administrative Committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and the Director of the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal in Northern California. He was a national leader of the defense committees of Julian Assange and Lynne Stewart.Jeff was the Coordinator of the Dialogue With Cuba" conference in 2000 at the University of California at Berkeley, the first institutionally-sponsored Cuba conference in U.S. history. Attended by 2000 U.S. social justice activists and leading scholars representing a broad range of academic and social fields, the dialogue saw 30 leading Havana-based Cuban scholars and social and political leaders exchange views with their U.S. counterparts.

Jeff is the author of some 20 books and pamphlets including CIA/Crack in America, a detailed history of the U.S. government and its agent, Oliver North, importing tons of crack cocaine from the Columbia Medellin cartel. to sell in Los Angeles to illegally raise funds for the Nicaraguan Contras. Other books and pamphlets by Jeff covered the Mexican Chiapas Rebellion, Ukraine, Syria, Nicaragua, Libya, the South Africa anti-apartheid struggle and, most recently a critique of the NYC Zohran Mamdani Democratic Party/DSA mayoral election campaign.

Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote The Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights

Early in his second term, after addressing a joint session of Congress, as he shook hands walking down the aisle, President Donald Trump turned to Chief Justice John Roberts, patted him on the back, and said, Thank you again. Thank you again. I wont forget.What had Roberts done to deserve such gratitude? A lot.

In her withering and revealing new book, Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote The Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights, Lisa Graves describes in detail how Roberts has established himself not as a fair referee but as a diabolically effective player rewriting the Constitution and remaking America in accord with his reactionary political agenda, as he strategizes how to move the ball forward and disarm the opposition. Sound too hyperbolic? Read the book.

Guest " Lisa Graves " before her work as Deputy Assistant Attorney General under Attorneys General Janet Reno, a Democrat, and John Ashcroft, a Republican, she was Chief Counsel for Nominations for Senator Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where she investigated the careers and ideologies of judicial nominees, including John Roberts. She also learned how to examine the finances of sitting judges as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts with oversight of the Financial Disclosure Office. She was an adjunct law professor at George Washington University Law School and worked as the Senior Legislative Strategist for the ACLU on national security and civil liberties. From 2009-2017, she led the Center for Media and Democracy. Most recently, she co-founded Court Accountability and is also the Executive Director of True North Research, a national investigative watchdog group that describes its mission as exposing the dark money fueling regressive agendas targeting vital institutions in our republic, such as our courts and public schools.

Remembering Michael Ratner

Hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith interviewed some of Michael Ratners closest friends and colleagues as part of a special broadcast highlighting Michael Ratners legal work and mentorship. The special also marked the upcoming release of Michael Ratners autobiography Moving The Bar: My Life As A Radical Lawyer published by OR Books. We hear from attorneys including Eleanor Stein, Richard Levy, Ray Brescia and David Cole.

Michael Ratners pathbreaking legal and political work is unmatched. He provided crucial support for the Cuban Revolution and won the seminal case in the Supreme Court guaranteeing the right of habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees. Michael also challenged U.S. policy in Iraq, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Israel-Palestine. This book is a testament to his unflagging efforts on behalf of the poor and oppressed around the world.

" Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Michael Ratner personified lawyering that brought both radical and human values into challenges to the use of governmental power to violate the essence of the Bill of Rights. From the torture of prisoners after 911 to the massive racial profiling by the New York Police Department, Michaels voice and vision continue to resonate. This book provides a powerful testament to the spirit of this extraordinary man.

" Attorney Bill Goodman

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In Memory of Attorney Peter Weiss

Attorney Peter Weiss was a frequent guest here on Law and Disorder. He was a guest several times to discuss pressing issues of nuclear policy, International Human Rights Law and the Royal Dutch Shell Settlement and in 2007, Peter was a Lawyers You'll Like guest.

We go now to hear that 2007 interview co-hosted by Michael Ratner and Michael Smith. Peter Weiss died one month short of his 100th birthday on November 3, 2025. Peter was the founder and head of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. His field was international law. He won the historic case for universal jurisdiction which allowed foreign war criminals to be tried in the United States under certain circumstances.

Mr. Weiss is a graduate of Yale Law School and was the principle author of the draft brief on the illegality of threat or use of nuclear weapons used by many countries in making written submissions to the International Court of Justice in the 1996 nuclear weapons advisory opinion. Mr Weiss served as counsel to Malaysia at those hearings. He has published several articles on the ICJ opinion, including in the fall 1997 issue of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems. Mr. Weiss litigated the seminal case establishing the right of victims of torture to sue their torturers in US courts (Filartiga v. Pena-Irala).

Since his retirement in 1996 from Weiss Dawid Fross Zelnick & Lehrman, a leading trademark firm, he has been Senior Intellectual Property Counsel to The Chanel Company Limited. He is also a founder and former President of the American Committee on Africa and former Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. He has also long been an activist for peace in the Middle East and is currently a member of the Arab-Jewish Peace Group in New York and of the Executive Committee of Americans for Peace Now, which supports the Peace Now movement in Israel.