Original Law and Disorder Radio ™

Heidi Boghosian, Michael Smith, Jim Lafferty, Maria Hall, Stephen Rohde
  • 5.0 (5)
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  • Updated Weekly

Hosted by 4 attorneys, Law and Disorder is a one hour weekly show providing timely legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, right to dissent and practices of torture exercised by the US government and private corporations.

  1. 5d ago

    Law and Disorder September 14, 2026

    Reviewing Key SCOTUS and Lower Court Cases Last month co-host Stephen Rohde reviewed the conservative legal doctrine known as the Unitary Executive Theory as the US Supreme Court ended its term further entrenching the reactionary Republican agenda. As legal battles mount across every tier of the judiciary, basic constitutional rights continue to be tested in the courtroom. We'll highlight key cases that impact immigration, voting rights, freedom of speech and freedom of press. 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. ---- Defending Attacks Against First Amendment Rights  We are living through one of the most dangerous government attacks on freedom of speech and freedom of the press in American history. Trump has issued more than forty executive orders, fact sheets, and presidential memorandum, along with scores of enforcement actions dutifully issued by the obedient federal officials he has appointed, that abridge the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans and foreign visitors. Here's a sampling of what Trump has done: He has retaliated against law firms for their advocacy and representation of specific clients; terminated billions of dollars in federal funding to universities in an effort to alter their ideological cultures and control their core academic operations; conditioned federal research and other funding on the agreement not to practice or promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “gender ideology” and to teach only “patriotic” curricula in K-12 schools; arrested, detained, and subjected to deportation international students and foreign scholars based on their viewpoints and political activism, and revoking the visas of foreign nationals based on political expression; retaliated against the press by excluding specific media outlets from White House events based on their viewpoints and reporting; threatened to revoke broadcast licenses based on networks’ editorial decisions; restricted reporters’ access to unclassified defense-related information held by the Pentagon; sued newspapers and publishers for defamation, consumer fraud, and “election interference”; scrubbed historical, scientific, and other data from federal agency websites; ordered the removal of “anti-American” displays in national museums; Guest - Floyd Abrams, one of the most prominent First Amendment lawyers in America.   ------------------------

  2. Sep 7

    Law and Disorder September 7, 2026

    Analysis Of A Transformation  Our country is going through a great transformation. We are no longer the constitutional democracy we once were. Its reported that Elon Musk, the world‘s first trillionaire, gave Trump and his MAGA organization $200 million in the last election. Miriam Adelson, the widow of a casino magnate gave another $100 million. Trump bragged about her ready access to the White House. Musk took a wrecking ball to federal jobs. Other institutions such as law firms, the Supreme Court,universities, and Congress have been transformed. Extraordinarily no one in Congress is able to say “the king has no clothes“. The media facilitate all of this. Guest - Ann Wright is a retired colonel in the army having served 29 years in it and the reserves . She then became a diplomat and was posted in many countries around the world. In 2003 she quit over the lies the government told to manipulate the American people into supporting a war on Iraq. She then co-wrote the book with Susan Dixon titled “Dissent : Voices of Conscience : Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq. It includes a forward by Daniel Ellsberg. Ann Wright has been active since then as a the leader of the anti-war group Code Pink and a leader of Veterans for Peace. She is was on numerous flotillas that sailed across the Mediterranean to bring help to the Palestinians and publicize their plight. VoicesOfConscience. ---- We Will Dismantle The ICC Brick By Brick The United States has long endeavored to undermine the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Although it is not a party to the Rome Statute, the U.S. has consistently attacked the ICC. In 2003, Congress passed, and then-President George W. Bush signed, the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, known as “The Hague Invasion Act.” It says that if a national of the U.S. or its ally (which includes Israel) is detained by the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, the U.S. military can use armed force to extricate them. The Bush administration effectively blackmailed 100 countries that were parties to the Rome Statute by forcing them to sign bilateral immunity agreements in which they promised not to turn over U.S. persons to the ICC, or the United States would withhold foreign aid from them. In November 2024, after an investigation lasting more than three years, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. They stand charged with the war crimes of starvation as a form of warfare, and intentional attacks on civilians; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. Donald Trump has taken the U.S. assault on the ICC to a new level with punishing sanctions against those who seek to hold accountable individuals who commit the most heinous crimes. In February, Trump issued an executive order that has led to the sanctioning of nine of the ICC’s 18 judges and three ICC prosecutors. Sanctions include frozen or closed bank accounts, rejection of financial transactions, denial of access to digital services, and travel bans. In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court. He accused the ICC of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles,” but with “the force of so-called international law.” In an article in Wall Street Journal, Rubio wrote that “we will dismantle the ICC – brick by brick, if necessary.” Now four prominent human rights organizations have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Trump’s executive order violates the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and international law. Guest – Marjorie Cohn, a former host on Law and Disorder is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, dean of the People’s Academy of International Law, and past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She sits on the national advisory board of Veterans For Peace, she is a member of the bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and serves as the U.S. representative to the continental advisory council of the Association of American Jurists. Her books include Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues. She writes a regular column for Truthout, including a recent one entitled, Trump Sanctioned ICC Officials to Shield Israeli Leaders. Rights Groups Sued. --------------

  3. Sep 1

    Law and Disorder August 31, 2026

    Transgender Community Legal Protection, LGBTQ Rights and SCOTUS The transgender community is the whipping boy of the Republican Party. Conservatives never miss a chance to try to inflame voters with scary stories about transgender people invading public bathrooms and women’s sports. Transphobia has now reached the US Supreme Court which has handed down a series of regressive decisions seriously impairing trans rights.To help us understand what’s going on and how decent people can stand in solidarity with the transgender community, we’re delighted to be joined by Shannon Minter, who is Vice President and Legal Director at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, where he has led the legal team’s impact litigation, legislative, and public policy efforts for nearly 30 years. Currently, he is leading litigation challenging a range of anti-transgender executive orders and federal policies. Shannon is one of the nation’s foremost experts on conversion therapy, helping to draft and pass legislation in states to protect LGBTQ youth and support survivors.An appointee to President Obama’s Commission on White House Fellowships, Shannon was one of the most senior transgender appointees in the Obama administration. He was named to the 2026 TIME100 and has received ABA’s Stonewall Award and several other important recognitions. —- Agents Of Hope: Rebuilding American Democracy We are 10 weeks away from one of the most momentous Midterm Elections in the history of the United States, which could well spell the future of the American democracy. If the Democrats do not win control of Congress, President Donald Trump will have clear sailing to continue to expand his fascist regime by killing citizens and non-citizens, dismantling cherished American institutions, and violating the US Constitution. The question facing every one of us is what are We the People going to do about it. What are we going to do deny the MAGA movement control of the House and Senate and governorships and state legislatures, and what are we going to do over the next 2 years, 4 years, 8 years and beyond to take back and rebuild our democracy. To help us chart that path, we are very fortunate to be joined today on Law and Disorder by Heather Booth. Heather Booth is one of the country’s leading strategists on progressive issue campaigns and elections. She began organizing in the civil rights and women’s movements of the 1960s. She started JANE, an underground abortion service in 1965, before Roe v Wade was decided. Heather has been involved in and managed a wide range of political campaigns and was the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, she was the Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, which helped to increase African American election turnout. In 2008, she was the director of the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO. In 2009, she directed the campaign to pass President Barack Obama’s first budget. In 2010 she was the founding director of Americans for Financial Reform, fighting to regulate the financial industry. She was the national coordinator for the coalition around marriage equality and a strategic advisor to the Alliance for Citizenship. She was the field director for the 2017 campaign to stop the tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires and won the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Dodd/Frank Bill. She directed Progressive and Seniors Outreach for the Biden/Harris campaign. Currently, Heather Booth is a member of the consulting firm Democracy Partners, she is national outreach director of Battleground Alliance, organizing in about 40 marginal congressional districts, and she is President of the Midwest Academy, training social change leaders and organizers. Best of all she is the sister of Dave Tobis, one of my dearest friends and classmates at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, Long Island.

  4. Aug 17

    Law and Disorder August 17, 2026

    Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times - A Guide for All of Us: How to Reclaim Your Power, Fight for Freedom, and Reimagine Democracy We're joined by Skye Perryman, the author of a new book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times - A Guide for All of Us: How to Reclaim Your Power, Fight for Freedom, and Reimagine Democracy. Skye opens her book this way: “I know how you feel - because I’ve been there to ... On a bad day, and there are many bad days, our nation’s backslide from democracy into autocracy accelerates....Untrained, masked federal agents are running roughshod in our streets, terrorizing communities. Peaceful protesters have been killed. The government has been weaponized, and the Supreme Court feels stacked. It is harder and harder for many to make ends meet....We are all so tired. And many of us are numb.... It’s almost impossible to keep up; even harder to know what to do.” Guest - Skye Perryman is the President and CEO of Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that advances democracy and progress in the courts. Named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, she is a leader in the largest affirmative litigation effort against executive branch overreach in United States history. In reviewing her new book for Ms Magazine, I called it "timely, hopeful, and practical. She is the author of a new book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times - A Guide for All of Us: How to Reclaim Your Power, Fight for Freedom, and Reimagine Democracy. ----- A Real Right To Vote: How A Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy From Donald Trump's dangerous Executive Orders imposing restrictions on voting to the Supreme Court's dismantling of the Voting Rights Act and all the efforts at voter suppression in Congress and state legislatures, the right to vote in America is under assault. The Midterm Elections are less than 90 days away and many people are asking whether free and fair elections will even take place this November, and if they do, whether Trump and the Republicans will try to block the results in races they lose. To help us understand what is going on, we're very pleased to be joined by an internationally recognized expert in election law, Rick Hasen. Guest - Rick Hasen is the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, and Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law. He is co-author of leading casebooks in election law and served in 2022 and 2024 as an NBC News/MSNBC Election Law Analyst. He was a CNN Election Law Analyst in 2020. From 2001-2010, he served as founding co-editor of the quarterly peer-reviewed publication, Election Law Journal. He is the author of over 100 articles on election law issues. His latest book, A Real Right to Vote, was published by Princeton University Press in February 2024.

  5. Aug 10

    Law and Disorder August 10, 2026

    Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism On July 20th, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department released a 100-page McCarthyite propaganda report. It is a document that seeks to serve as the ideological justification for an escalating assault on Cuba, the Cuba solidarity movement and all political dissent on the left. The report casts a wide net of unfounded accusations, maliciously painting over 40 left-leaning social movement organizations and individuals as purported Cuban "front groups" while employing guilt-by-association tactics to smear even elected officials such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Among the organizations cited is the National Lawyers Guild, an association of attorneys, law students and legal workers, of which all of the hosts here on Law and Disorder are members. It goes so far as to cite reports from the long-discredited House Un-American Activities Committee, reviving Cold War conspiracy theories from the 1950s and repackaging them for the present. As our guest today writes, “These accusations are not meant to be rational. They, like the charges that our elections are manipulated, are transparent excuses to go after institutions and individuals that are seen as threatening Trump and the Republican Party’s absolute grip on power.” Guest – Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, and the former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times. Among his more than a dozen books are American Fascism: The Christian Right and the War on America; The Greatest Evil Is War; and A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine. Chris Hedges is also one of the contributors to the book titled From the Flag to the Cross: Fascism American Style, a book composed of summaries of interviews with guests here on the Law and Disorder radio show, and available for purchase at O/R Books. ---- Khalil v Trump Mahmood Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident has sued senior Trump administration officials and private anti-Palestinian groups for conspiring to target, detain, and attempt to deport him because of his identity and his advocacy for Palestinian rights. He is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the law firm of Beldock, Levine and Hoffman. The lawsuit argues that government officials and private actors, including the Heritage Foundation, Betar and Canary Mission violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and the US Constitution when they coordinated to suppress political speech and support of Palestinian rights through the weaponization of immigration enforcement and baseless, pretrial accusations of terrorism and antisemitism. Mahmoud‘s arrest, detention, and attempted deportation were part of a broader strategy to criminalized solidarity, chill speech and make an example of those who speak out against the subjugation of Palestinians. This case is about more than one person or one freedom movement. Is about whether government power can be weaponized by private actors to target human rights defenders and strip people of their constitutional rights. Guest - New York attorney Adina Marx-Padare. She is a justice fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights ( CCR). She graduated.CUNY law school and worked at Bronx Defenders. -----------------------------

  6. Aug 3

    Law and Disorder August 3, 2026

    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. ---- 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.

  7. Jul 27

    Law and Disorder July 27, 2026

    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. Well 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. ---- 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.

  8. Jul 20

    Law and Disorder July 20, 2026

    PEN America Writer’s Organization President Resigns Amid Controversy Last week, on July 9, 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 – Prof Mengestu 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. Prof 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. —- 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 by arguing that consensual adult sex work harm than good. 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 of should be treated as work rather than as a crime. The film distinguishes consensual sex work from human trafficking. It asks whether a law-enforcement-centered approach has done more criminalization. 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 documentary is inspired by Vitale’s book The End of Policing, which argues that criminalizing sex work harms vulnerable.

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About

Hosted by 4 attorneys, Law and Disorder is a one hour weekly show providing timely legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, right to dissent and practices of torture exercised by the US government and private corporations.

Information

  • Creator
    Heidi Boghosian, Michael Smith, Jim Lafferty, Maria Hall, Stephen Rohde
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    103
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Law and Disorder 2024
  • Show Website
    Original Law and Disorder Radio ™

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