Month: June 2024

Republican Billionaires are Moving the Democratic Party to the Right as AIPAC Buys Elections For Corporate Democrats

We begin with the most expensive primary election in US history in New York’s 16th district which saw the unseating of a Democratic incumbent Jamaal Bowman defeated by a candidate recruited and financed by AIPAC, the Israel lobby, with $15 million mostly from Republican billionaires. Joining us to discuss the backlash from Progressive groups who fear Republican billionaires are buying congressional seats for corporate Democrats is Alexander Sammon, a politics writer at Slate. He has previously written for Mother Jones, The New Republic and the American Prospect and we discuss his latest article at Slate, “Jamaal Bowman’s Quixotic Quest to Stay in Congress.”

The Supreme Court Changes Bribes to Gratuities in a Decision Justice Jackson Blasts as “Absurd”

Then we examine the 6 to 3 Supreme Court ruling that changes bribes to gratuities as the right wing textualists overturned the conviction of a mayor in Indiana who received a $13,000 bribe “gratuity” from a trucking company who the mayor had given a contract to for trucks to collect garbage. Joining us to discuss a ruling Justice Jackson blasted as “absurd” is Steven Harper , a professor at Northwestern University, and regular contributor to The American Lawyer. He is the author of several books, including The Lawyer Bubble — A Profession in Crisis and Crossing Hoffa — A Teamster’s Story. He blogs at The Belly of the Beast and we discuss his article at Common Dreams, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Alito?” and how Alito and Thomas have been collecting “gratuities” from billionaires to the tune of over $4 million.

How We Got to the Moment Where the Supreme Court Could Grant Trump Immunity After Giving Him Months of Delay

Then finally we assess the upcoming big bombshell of a decision on Trump’s immunity from the Supreme Court expected at any moment and speak with Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor and Chief Assistant City Attorney in San Francisco who has won cases of significance in the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court. He currently serves as counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, and we discuss his article at MSNBC “The Supreme Court’s radical majority rejected three ways to avoid an immunity disaster.”