Month: January 2022

Briefings

Background Briefing: January 12, 2022

On By gram

 

Could Biden and the Democrats Have Stopped the “Big Lie” Just After January 6?

We begin with the question of why has it taken President Biden so long to realize the Republicans don’t want to work with him they want to destroy him, particularly since the GOP’s leader Donald Trump is dedicated to undermining Biden’s legitimacy as Trump claims he won the last election which the vast majority of Republicans now believe. Joining us to discuss whether the big lie could have been nipped in the bud just after January 6 when Republican leaders were speaking out against Trump is Garrett Epps, a legal affairs editor of the Washington Monthly who has taught constitutional law at American University, the University of Baltimore, Boston College, Duke, and the University of Oregon. He is the author of American Epic: Reading the U.S. Constitution, and we discuss his latest article at The Washington Monthly, “How to Fix the Senate by Essentially—Though Not Quite—Abolishing It.”

 

Will Biden’s Speech Change Minds in the Senate?

Then we examine further whether Biden’s forceful speech will change minds in the Senate since he pointed out that, “Not a single Republican has displayed the courage to stand up to a defeated president to protect America’s right to vote. Not one. Not one.” Joining us to discuss whether there is a path forward to protect voting rights is Richard Briffault, the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation at Columbia Law School where his areas of focus include state and local government, constitutional law, regulation, and public policy, government ethics, gerrymandering, and fair elections.

 

Does the Ruling Against Prince Andrew Mean He Will Pay Off His Accuser Before the Trial Goes Public?

Then finally, with a federal judge in Manhattan ruling against Prince Andrew’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit from going to trial brought by Virginia Guiffre who claims she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with the British royal when she was underage. We speak with Aya Gruber, Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School who has written widely on rape law, the feminist critique of provocation and self-defense, domestic violence reform, and on prostitution and human trafficking. Her latest book is The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women’s Liberation in Mass Incarceration and we assess how soon Prince Andrew will pay off his accuser to avoid the embarrassment of a public trial now that the judge has ruled a 2009 settlement with Epstein to shield “potential defendants” does not protect him.