Tatter - Episodes Tagged with “Trump”

Episode 63: Tripwire (w/ Peter Margulies)

Michael Sargent — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:00:00 -0500

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The firings and resignations of senior civilian officials at the Pentagon--most notably of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper--has raised alarm in many quarters. Many are also concerned about President Trump's refusal to concede the election and his refusal to support a transition to the administration of President-elect Joe Biden. I discuss these concerns, and other issues, with Roger Williams University Professor of Law, and expert on national security law, Peter Margulies.

LINKS
--Peter Margulies's Roger Williams University profile
--"Trump administration removes senior defense officials and installs loyalists, triggering alarm at Pentagon," by Barbara Starr, Zachary Cohen, & Ryan Browne, for CNN
--"Is it mere spite--or something more sinister?" by Michael T. Klare, for The Nation
--"Exclusive: Top official on U.S. election cybersecurity tells associates he expects to be fired," by Christopher Bing, Joseph Menn, & Raphael Satter, for Reuters
--"Kavanaugh decision sides with immigrant seeking factual review of denied torture claim," by Debra Cassens Weiss, for ABAJournal

Special Guest: Peter Margulies.

Episode 50: Wrong Tool for the Job (Brian Kalt, on the 25th Amendment)

Michael Sargent — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 13:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Concerns about Donald Trump's fitness to serve as U.S. President have motivated many people to advocate for the invocation of the 25th Amendment, particularly Section 4. Those who have engaged in such advocacy--and I've done it--seem to believe that effectively invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment could be a way to remove Trump from office. But my guest--Brian Kalt of the Michigan State University College of Law--makes a case that we're wrong.

LINKS
--Brian Kalt's MSU profile
--Unable: The Law, Politics, and Limits of Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (by Brian Kalt)
--"President Trump is unfit for this crisis. Period." (by Jennifer Senior, at The New York Times)
--"Bayh aide not surprised 25th Amendment hasn't removed a president" (by Maureen Groppe, at The Indianapolis Star)
--_Full Disclosure: A Novel _(by William Safire)

Special Guest: Brian Kalt.

Episode 48: The Episodic Man (Discussing Donald Trump w/ Dan McAdams)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 06:00:00 -0500

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Dan McAdams is The Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, as well as Director of the Foley Center for the Study of Lives. McAdams's areas of interest and expertise include personality and personal narrative. He's also written about the personality and narrative of Donald Trump, going back to when Trump was merely a candidate for President. Trump is now U.S. President (and will remain so, at least for the time being, since he was acquitted in a Senate impeachment trial). McAdams has written a new book about the temperament and personal narrative of Trump. With its release about a month away, I spoke to McAdams, and feature that conversation in this episode.

LINKS
--Dan McAdams's profile at Northwestern University
--Foley Center for the Study of Lives, at Northwestern
--The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump: A Psychological Reckoning (The Oxford University Press page for McAdams forthcoming book)
--"The Mind of Donald Trump" (June 2016 Atlatic essay by McAdams)

Special Guest: Dan McAdams.

Episode 44: Interim Ad Infinitum (On The Use and Abuse of Presidential Appointment Power)

Michael Sargent — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 07:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Steve Vladeck is the A. Dalton Cross Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law. He's also a prolific writer and CNN's Supreme Court analyst, and he's argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. He joined me to discuss the President's power to appoint individuals in an acting capacity in senior positions. This is a power that can be abused--and some would argue has been abused by President Trump. We discuss the power, and possible reforms that could limit abuse.

LINKS
Steve Vladeck's UT-Austin profile
"Trump is abusing his authority to name 'acting secretaries': Here's how Congress can stop him." (by Vladeck, for Slate)
"Trump relies on acting Cabinet officials more than most presidents. It's not an accident." (by Phillip Bump, for the Washington Post)
"How America got to 'zero tolerance' on immigration: The inside story," (by Jason Zengerle, for the New York Times)
"Supreme Court rules against Apple, as Kavanaugh sides with liberal Justices." (by Bill Chappell, for National Public Radio)
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act

Special Guest: Stephen Vladeck.

Episode 41: Judgment Call (The Impeachment Episode)

Michael Sargent — Thu, 16 May 2019 17:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Julia Azari is a political scientist at Marquette University, as well as a frequent contributor to FiveThirtyEight. Seth Masket is a political scientist at the University of Denver, and a contributor to Vox.com's Mischiefs of Faction. The three of us talked about the prospects of impeaching Donald Trump, the potential aftermath, and why it all matters.

LINKS
--Julia Azari's Marquette University profile
--Seth Masket's University of Denver profile
--"The Trump Era Has Pushed Scholars to the Limits of Our Understanding," by Julia Azari (guest blogger) at Balkinization
--"'Impeachment Will Help Republicans' And Other Myths," by Seth Masket, in Pacific Standard
--A recent chat about impeachment, at FiveThirtyEight (including Azari)

Special Guests: Julia Azari and Seth Masket.

Episode 26: A Mighty Pen, Part II (Another Discussion of the Kavanaugh Nomination)

Michael Sargent — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 06:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Judge Brett Kavanaugh currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but he's better known now as the more recent Supreme Court nominee by President Donald Trump, nominated to replace retired Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. This is the second of two episodes focused on Kavanaugh's record and thinking, and the impact his addition would likely have on the Court.

I spoke with Jonathan Adler and Brianne Gorod. Adler is the Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as the Director of its Center for Business Law and Regulation. He has clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Gorod is Chief Counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, and has clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

LINKS
Jonathan Adler's profile at Case Western
Brianne Gorod's profile at the Constitutional Accountability Center
Agri Processor Co Inc v. National Labor Relations Board
On Garza v. Hargan
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
"The stare decisis Court" (Adler, on the Roberts Court and precedent)
U.S. v. Burwell (related to mens rea, or criminal intent)
U.S. v. Queen Nwoye (related to battered woman syndrome)
Janus v. AFSCME
V.L. v. E.L.
Pavan v. Smith
"Supreme Court clerks are not a particularly diverse lot" (Adler, in the Washington Post, for the Volokh Conspiracy)
"The Supreme Court is terrible at hiring diverse law clerks, but Neil Gorsuch is surprisingly good at it" (Mark Joseph Stern, at Slate)

Cover art credit: Office of Senator Chuck Grassley (Wikimedia Commons)

Special Guests: Brianne Gorod and Jonathan H. Adler (law).

Episode 25: A Mighty Pen, Part I (Discussing the Kavanaugh Nomination)

Michael Sargent — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 05:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Judge Brett Kavanaugh currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but he's better known now as the most recent Supreme Court nominee by President Donald Trump, nominated to replace retired Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. This is the first of two episodes focused on Kavanaugh's record and thinking, and the impact his addition would likely have on the Court.

I spoke with Peter Margulies and Stephen Vladeck. Margulies is Professor of Law at Roger Williams University's School of Law, where he teaches national security law, immigration law, and international law. Vladeck is the A. Dalton Cross Professor in Law at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, where his teaching and research focus on federal jurisdiction, constitutional law, national security law, and military justice. Both have participated in cases at the appellate level (including cases that have come before Kavanaugh). It's also worth noting that Vladeck was part of a legal team that participated in the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and is also CNN's Supreme Court analyst.

LINKS
Peter Margulies's profile at Roger Williams University
Stephen Vladeck's profile at UT-Austin
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
"Guantánamo bay prosecutors accuse detainee of conspiracy"
Margulies, on the al-Bahlul decision
Vladeck on al-Bahlul
Saleh, et al. v. Titan, et al.
Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corporation
Hernandez v. Mesa
"Brett Kavanaugh is the antidote to corporate America's worries about Trump" by Ronald Brownstein, in The Atlantic
Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA
Michigan v. Environmental Protection Agency
United States v. Nixon
Humphrey's Executor v. United States
Stare decisis defined

Cover art credit: Office of Senator Chuck Grassley (Wikimedia Commons)

Special Guests: Peter Margulies and Stephen Vladeck.

Episode 17: Unsafe Harbor (A Special Briefing)

Michael Sargent — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 01:30:00 -0400

Sarah Sherman-Stokes is Associate Director of the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program at Boston University Law School, and she graciously spoke with me about what's been happening along the southern border of the U.S., where prosecution of families seeking asylum has gained national and international attention, especially since children have been intentionally separated from their parents by the U.S. government. She also spoke to historical context, including the origins of MS-13. In addition to discussing the facts on the ground, and relevant history, we also discussed what people who want to help asylum-seekers can do.

LINKS
Immigrants' Rights & Human Trafficking Program (@ The BU School of Law)
RAICES--Action Network
The Florence Project
Al Otro Lado
Aldea--The People's Justice Center
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (Maine)

Cover art photo credit: Orage PLN (public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

Special Guest: Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes.

Episode 16: The Golden Door (A Special Briefing)

Michael Sargent — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 19:00:00 -0400

On June 18, 2018, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen held a briefing largely focused on the Trump administration's treatment of families seeking asylum at the southwestern border of the U.S. On June 19, I spoke with Sarah Pierce, Policy Analyst for the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. We discussed the predominant home countries of those who have been recently apprehended at the southwestern border of the U.S., a bit about data cited by the Nielsen, and quite a bit more about what would happen if legislation proposed in the U.S. House were to become law.

LINKS
Sarah Pierce Bio
Migration Policy Institute report (by Jessica Bolter & Sarah Pierce) on the two House bills

(Cover art photo credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The White House, & U.S. Congress)

Special Guest: Sarah Pierce.