The Imperial Presidency

In court and in Iran

There’s a lot on the docket today in this week’s Main Justice episode.

Most important, Mary and I are joined by Tess Bridgeman to pull apart the Iran “deal.” Tess is an international law expert who served as a senior legal advisor in the Obama administration. She has intimate knowledge about Iran and the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran — that’s the one Trump ripped up and denigrated. Tess lays out how President Trump’s new “memorandum of understanding” differs from the deals that were brokered in 2015, and what to watch for as critical negotiations continue. This is an indispensable, and highly informative discussion for all those trying to understand what deal we had in 2015, what interim deal we have now, and what comes next. I am sure you will be, like I am, in awe of Tess’s extraordinary ability to break this all down, so clearly and cogently.

But before Tess joined us, Mary and I analyze several examples of the Trump Justice Department’s consistent effort to avoid judicial review. For instance, it has refused to put into a sworn declaration that it won’t move forward with the “Anti-Weaponization” slush fund. And, separately, we address its outlandish argument seeking to dismiss a Clean Air Act violation lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI data center in Mississippi. Both reflect the Trump administration’s position that the courts have to defer to the wishes of the executive branch to dismiss private civil suits, with no discretion to refuse its demands.

We also tackle instances where, contrastingly, the government has positioned itself “on the offense” this week, including an indictment of 15 protesters on a conspiracy charge against ICE— and why the new ICE indictment is problematic, but not in our view for the reasons that many have claimed.

It’s a jam-packed episode. Stay engaged, now more than ever.

Andrew

PS: You can check out two new reviews of my book Liar’s Kingdom, by Peter Coyote and Jerry Goldfeder, HERE and HERE (thank you to both Peter and Jerry, who calls the book a “must read.”) If you want to pick up a copy you can do so HERE. Thank you to everyone who has made the book a #1 bestseller on the NYT list, Amazon list, and Publisher’s Weekly list. I am so very grateful.