The Bench Press

The Bench Press

By Robert DeNault and Jess ColemanSociety & CultureNewsNews CommentaryPolitics
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The Bench Press episodes

  • Trump v. US: Is the President Immune from Criminal Prosecution?
    Bobby, Jess and Ryan discuss the Supreme Court's oral arguments in Trump v. United States, where the Court will decide whether President Trump is immune from certain criminal charges brought in connection with the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. How will the justices rule? Is the public overreacting? All that and more.
    1 hr
  • MAGA’s Abortion Play: Make America 1864 Again

    Bobby and guest host Ryan discuss the Arizona Supreme Court enforcing an 1864 abortion law and why MAGA and Trump are responsible. Then a rundown of recent Trump trials details (the start of the first criminal trial, questions about Trump’s bond, and Judge Cannon’s reckless rulings).

    1 hr 15 min
  • Is a TikTok Ban Legal?
    Bobby and Jess are joined by guest host Ryan Wildsmith (don't worry, not another lawyer)! Why is Congress banning TikTok? Is it a good idea? And is it even allowed under the First Amendment?
    42 min
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once

    What will the Supreme Court do with former President Trump's immunity claim? Is Judge Cannon intentionally slow-walking the classified documents case? Did Fani Willis blow her opportunity to hold Trump accountable for election interference? How in the world is Trump going to pay the half billion dollars he owes to New York State?

    With the collision course between Donald Trump and U.S. courts hitting yet another gear, Bobby and Jess take you through every criminal and civil case facing the former President, and try to make sense of where we're headed and why it matters for our legal system and the looming presidential race.

    1 hr 12 min
  • 2024: Trump's Fate Back at SCOTUS

    Happy New Year! We are back with a preview of the year ahead for the courts, our politics, and the trajectory of democracy, and of course that means a slew of hugely impactful Trump-related cases headed for the Supreme Court. How will SCOTUS rule on the efforts to disqualify Trump from running under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? Will SCOTUS interfere with Trump's criminal trial in DC? All that and more on this week's episode of The Bench Press.

    1 hr 3 min
  • The Kraken Got Krakened
    Four defendants in the Georgia election interference criminal case plead guilty. What does it say about the trajectory of Fani Willis' case, as well as the other criminal cases pending against Former President Donald Trump. And the House Republicans (finally) elect a Speaker. Who the heck is Congressman Mike Johnson, and what does his election to the Speaker's chair say about the modern Republican Party?
    56 min
  • Israel at War: A Sane Discussion
    Following Hamas' brutal terrorist attacks on Israel, the discourse in the United States has been anything but productive. Bobby and Jess discuss their own reactions, and what it all says about our political culture and the modern media environment. Also, a discussion of the simultaneous political crisis in the United States created by the Republicans' abject failure to run the House of Representatives.
    39 min
  • Can Trump Pardon Himself?

    Can a president pardon him or herself? It's question that has puzzled legal minds for decades, but has never been settled, or even directly addressed by a federal judge. With President Trump facing two federal indictments, and teasing the possibility that he would use the pardon power to insulate himself from criminal liability if elected president, the question has reentered the public sphere with a vengeance. But what does the law actually say? What are the arguments for and against allowing self pardons? And what does the debate say about how political leaders should approach this delicate moment in history? Jess and Bobby discuss all of these questions and more with Brian Kalt, a leading constitutional scholar and professor of law at Michigan State University.

    42 min
  • Can States Keep Trump Off the Ballot?

    We're back! This episode, Bobby and Jess are joined by Matt Ford, a staff writer for The New Republic covering law and the courts, to discuss the increasingly salient question of whether Former President Donald Trump can be disqualified from running for president again under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  How does this even work? How likely is it to succeed? And why should we take it seriously? 

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    50 min
  • To RICO or Not to RICO

    With Fulton County DA Fani Willis on the verge of delivering Donald Trump's fourth criminal indictment, Bobby and Jess discuss what to expect, what to look out for, and why this may be the most significant indictment of all. Also, two prominent conservatives make the case that Trump is ineligible to run for president, and a battle between Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan heats up.

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    54 min

About The Bench Press

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Two young lawyers, Robert DeNault and Jess Coleman, take you inside the major developments in law and politics, and analyze what it means for the American legal system, our constitutional framework…