Lawful Assembly Cecil Cicirello and Craig Mousin

We listen to the oral arguments from the supreme court on April 25th where they argued that the president is immune to prosecution for public acts. Craig reads some amicus curiae briefs to help us understand the arguments. 
 
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-939/307029/20240408130715170_No.%2023-939bsacRetiredFour-StarAdmiralsAndGenerals.pdf
https://www.alabamaag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024.03.19-AL-Amicus-Br-ISO-Trump-FINAL.pdf
 
Photo by: Michael Vadon 

Here is Craig's opening paragraph framework:
Although this unscripted podcast began as a discussion of difficult conversations, it soon veered into how to engage in conversations about racism and war. We soon realized that the tools needed to engage fully may differ when conversations occur with friends, within a family, a community, a library board, a university, or a national dialogue. We acknowledge that the tragedy of slavery in this nation and the ongoing debates on how to resolve the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow have caused substantial harm to individuals and communities. We offer this podcast as an initial effort to broaden the conversation. One podcast’s ideas for one type of dialogue, however, can never address all issues. We will offer subsequent podcasts to seek multiple opinions and ideas of how to seek the common good and a more perfect union.

Resources for Ongoing Dialogue:
Rhonda MaGee, The Inner Work of Racial Justice, Healing Ourselves and Transforming our
Communities Through Mindfulness, (Tarcherperigree, N.Y., 2019), 29. She writes, “This is a
moment of racial discomfort. Such moments are common in a world shaped by racism. I
deserve kindness in the moment. And I offer kindness to others impacted by this movement as well.”

Andrea Medea, Conflict Unraveled, Fixing Problems at Work and in Families, (Pivot Point
Press, Chicago, Il, 2004), (citing Rev. Bevel at p.64).

Kerry Patterson et. al., Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High, Second Edition, (McGraw-Hill, 2002), (shared pool at p. 22).

Agents of Change: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3325282/ We mistakenly identified one of the universities in the podcast. Agents of Change tracks the responses from San Francisco State and Cornell University.

“Stumbling Upon a Signed Pulitzer Prize Winning Photo:”
http://alleghenyarchivesmedia.com/blog/2019/1/3/stumbling-upon-a-signed-pulitzer-prize-photo
Roger Fischer et al., Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (3rd Edition)
(Penguin Publishing Group, 2011).
Douglas Stone et. al., Difficult Conversations, How to Discuss What Matters Most, (Penguin
Books, N.Y., 2000)

Today we talk about the documents case and the judge overseeing it, and the judge appointed by Donald Trump in 2019, Judge Cannon. 
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/politics/trump-trial-documents-cannon.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/us/politics/trump-documents-witnesses.html
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/us/politics/judge-trump-dismissal-classified-documents.html  

We talk about the tension between states rights and federal power. How does a court decide which to lean more heavily on? 
Articles referenced:
Valor
The myth of ‘open borders’
For additional description of how state laws impacted the travel and work of African-Americans or freed slaves in the years before the Civil War, see e.g., Kate Masur, Until Justice Be Done, America's First Civil Rights Movement From the Revolution to Reconstruction, (N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, 2021), 123-126 and 157-59).
 
 

We answer several listener questions this week. We talk about a lot of different issues and here are some of the links we suggested in the episode:
 
https://immigrantjustice.org/
https://cmsny.org/
https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/
 
 
 
 

Today we talk about lying in the political discourse. We used the following news articles for reference
“Can’t make it up”: Experts say transcript shows special counsel Robert Hur “lied” about Biden | Salon.com
Biden special counsel Robert Hur’s resignation from DOJ makes his testimony “even more problematic” | Salon.com
Anti-sex trafficking advocate accuses GOP Sen. Katie Britt of distorting her story
Journalist says Katie Britt’s story about child sex abuse ‘out-and-out lie’ | Republicans | The Guardian
We also talked about this book: 
How Civil Wars Start
AND HOW TO STOP THEM
By Barbara F. Walter
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624156/how-civil-wars-start-by-barbara-f-walter/