Early Returns - Law and Politics with Jan Baran Jan Baran

A very unusual and historic week of political and legal events just preceded America’s Independence Day. The Supreme Court of the United States ended its term with pivotal decisions, including a number that affect former President Donald Trump, the pending legal cases against him, and the 2024 presidential election. Indeed, the justices have ruled on constitutional, political, and cultural controversies in recent years in ways that have eroded the public’s confidence in the Court. Josh ...

Arguing before the Supreme Court increasingly has become a specialty of an elite group of lawyers. A former Scalia judicial law clerk, Kannon Shanmugam has argued 38 cases at the court. In this episode, Jan speaks with Kannon about his Midwest upbringing, his route to being a lawyer, his exceptional career, and his times before the Supreme Court. They discuss his most memorable case, Maryland v King, involving DNA and the Fourth Amendment; he shares his observations about th...

In this episode of Early Returns, Jan Baran speaks with Former Virginia Governor and U.S. Ambassador, Jim Gilmore. They discuss his career in public service, his rise in Republican politics with the popular Virginia car tax reimbursement, and staying true to his roots and passion for foreign affairs and policy. As Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), he has been close to the past and current struggles throughout the world that threaten...

At this point in a presidential election year, the national conversation would usually be focused on which candidates are wrestling for their party nomination. But, as we know, this year is different. Even though primary elections still remain and the nominating conventions won’t occur until late summer, the 2024 candidates for president appear to be settled: President Joe Biden v. Former President Donald Trump. Charlie Cook, respected political analyst who has observed and ...

As with the previous two season kick-offs of Early Returns, we welcome the third season with the newly elected 2024 chair of the Federal Election Commission, Sean Cooksey, who is a republican. The FEC consists of six bipartisan commissioners with no more than three from the same political party. It takes the vote of four commissioners to take any major action. Chair Cooksey has three of his six years under his belt serving on the FEC. He and Jan discuss what the FEC is...

In this episode of Early Returns, Jan speaks with Bradley Smith, professor at Capital Law School, former Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) Chair, nationally recognized expert on campaign finance and the First Amendment, and the Founder and Chairman of the Institute for Free Speech (“IFS”). IFS defends rights guaranteed by the first amendment of the United States Constitution. Brad and IFS have been instrumental in modifying the debate about regulating money and politics by provi...