Challenges To The Trump Administration’s Executive Orders

The legal system is straining as it tries to hold the Trump administration accountable for its unprecedented assault on our constitutional rights. Close to a thousand lawsuits have been filed challenging Trump’s Executive Orders and their implementation, plus more than ten thousand separate habeas corpus petitions filed by people targeted by Trump’s immigration crackdown.

We take a deeper look at some of these legal and political developments. We’re joined by our very own co-host Steve Rohde, who practiced constitutional law for almost 50 years.  He is a former Chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, the author or two books and numerous articles on the courts and the law.

Guest – Stephen Rohde is a journalist, lecturer and political activist. For almost 50 years, he practiced civil rights, civil liberties, and intellectual property law and has won significant First Amendment victories in state and federal appellate courts.Steve is past chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and Chair Emeritus of Bend the Arc, a Jewish Partnership for Justice. He is a founder and current chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace; and a member of the Board of Directors of Death Penalty Focus. He is the Special Advisor on Free Speech and the First Amendment for the Muslim Public Affairs Council.Steve 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 co-author of Foundations of Freedom published by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. Steve is also the host of Speaking Freely: A First Amendment Podcast exploring the most important Supreme Court cases in the area of free speech and free press.

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Student Journalism Supported By Law Center

Student journalism is one of the most vital—and often overlooked—front lines in the fight for a free press. Across the country, student reporters expose such topics as sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and government secrecy. Yet without the institutional legal backing enjoyed by newsrooms, they frequently face censorship, retaliation, and lawsuit threats from administrators and public officials.

For more than fifty years, the Student Press Law Center has stood as the nation’s leading legal advocate for student journalists. Founded in 1974, the nonprofit offers free legal help via a nationwide hotline, advises on First Amendment issues—from libel to public records access—and spearheads the “New Voices” movement for state-level legal protections.

Guest – SPLC staff attorney Jonathan Gaston-Falk. A former student journalist himself at York High School in Virginia, Jonathan joined the center in March 2022 after a five-year tenure leading the Education Law Unit at the Legal Aid Society of Rochester, New York. There, he advocated for student free speech rights before school boards and the state Commissioner of Education.

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Unitary Executive Theory

The US Supreme Court just ended a momentous term further entrenching the reactionary Republican agenda. Our sometimes consideration of relevant court cases and other legal developments, today includes a review of the conservative legal doctrine known as the Unitary Executive Theory, now favored by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, and the conservative doctrine of Originalism. We’ll also look at a new opinion poll of Americans showing that at least half of Americans disapprove of the job the Supreme Court is doing.

Guest – Stephen Rohde is the author of two books and numerous articles and book reviews on constitutional law and history. He is the former president of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and is a special Advisor on Free Speech and the First Amendment for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. He is host of the new podcast Speaking Freely produced by MS Studios and is available on Spotify and I Heart radio and other streaming platforms. Steve Rohde is also, of course, one of the co-hosts here on the Law and Disorder radio show.

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Hold Your Representative Accountable

A dozen years ago, two professors from prestigious universities, Martin Gillens and Benjamin Gage conducted a study of decision-making in our government. Their conclusion was a bombshell destroying as it did the myth that America is a majoritarian democracy. Their conclusion, in the most widely cited quote from their study, was that “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, nearly 0 statistically, non-significant impact on public policy.”

So who decides the policies of the government? Not us. It is the economic leaders, the business interests and the organized lobbies that call the shots. The American people by and large are way to the left of their government. However, they are ignorant of the true record of the Congress people who claim to represent them. What can be done about this?

Guest – Felice Gelman is a long time movement activist and part of The Network For Voter Education, a non-partisan effort that has created an Internet tool called yourreprecord.org which people can use to look up the true record of members of Congress.

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PEN America Writer’s Organization President Resigns Amid Controversy

On July 9, 2026, a long-simmering controversy burst into the headlines pitting allies of robust freedom of expression against each other over how writers, publishers and literary agents should respond to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The dispute came down to a fundamental question: Should a boycott be imposed on Israeli writers? The dispute was so divisive that Professor Dinaw Mengestu resigned as president of the free expression group PEN America.

Guest – Professor Dinaw Mengestu is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Written Arts Program at Bard College, where he has taught since 2016. He is the author of three novels, all of which were named New York Times Notable Books. A native of Ethiopia, he came with his family to the United States at the age of two. Professor Mengestu is also a freelance journalist. His articles and fiction have appeared in the New York Times, New Yorker, Harper’s, Granta, Jane, and Rolling Stone. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow and recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction, National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award, Guardian First Book Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among other honors. He was elected President of PEN America in December 2025, having served on its Board of Directors for about a decade.

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Sex Work: It’s Just a Job

For decades, debates over sex work have been shaped by criminal law, morality, and public safety. Supporters of tougher enforcement argue that prostitution fuels exploitation and human trafficking. Advocates for decriminalization contend that criminal penalties often make sex workers less safe and discourage people from seeking help when they need it. It’s a conversation that raises difficult questions about policing, labor, consent, and human rights.

A 2025 documentary, Sex Work: It’s Just a Job, enters that debate. The film was directed by documentary filmmaker Tami Gold from the Film Department at Hunter College. Through the voices of current and former sex workers, organizers, and researchers, it explores the movement to decriminalize sex work and the broader social consequences. The film also distinguishes consensual sex work from human trafficking.

Guest – Sociologist Alex Vitale, Professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and co-producer of the film. The populations and advocates for decriminalization and non-police safety interventions in the documentary is inspired by Vitale’s book The End of Policing, which argues that criminalizing sex work harms vulnerable.

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Economic Impact of Billionaires and Trillionaires

When Donald Trump came back to resume the office of presidency a year and a half ago the kind of government we were living under was unclear. It was a government where billionaires dominated our mass media, corporations, universities, courts, and government. Was this oligarchy authoritarianism or was it fascism American style? Last month, the media treated us to the spectacle of Elon Musk becoming the world‘s first trillionaire. One trillion is 1000 billion dollars. One billion is 1000 million dollars. The amount of money $1 trillion represents is difficult to even imagine. It would take a man working 52 weeks a year for $25 an hour 19.23 million years to make $1 trillion. The impact on a democratic society of having a trillionaire and over 1000 billionaires is transformative and a spectacle that has affected all of our lives.

Guest – Professor Henry Giroux – last year Law annd Disorder interviewed seven significant thinkers about the topic of American fascism. We put together a book on the topic titled From The Flag To The Cross: Fascism American Style.. Professor Henry Giroux was one of the seven contributors to the Law and Disorder book He wrote about the transformation of education. Henry Giroux currently holds the McMaster University Chair for scholarship and the public Interest. His most recent book co-authored with Anthony DiMaggio is titled Fascism on Trial: Education and the Possibility of Democracy. Professor Giroux frequently writes for the LA Progressive and has recently authored an article on Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire.

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U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Resetting Precedent Part 2

Back we go to review of more cases from the recent term of the U.S. Supreme Court. We start with the birthright citizen case. Then we take up cases dealing with immigration and executive power, as well as other major cases. We also look at what many have described as corruption among the Justices.

Guest – Ellen Yaroshefsky is the Howard Lichtenstein Distinguished Professor of Legal Ethics, Maurice A. Deane School of Law, at Hofstra University. She is a leading educator and expert in ethics law and serves as an expert witness and advisor to lawyers and law firms. Prof. Yaroshefsky is a former Commissioner on the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics. She has previously worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights and has been in private practice. And Prof. Yaroshefsky has received numerous awards, including the New York State Bar Association’s honor for Outstanding Contribution in Criminal Law Education.

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