The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell

Sarah Longwell and Andrew Weissmann discuss on a week that tested both of them: Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing, and Trump's prime-time speech on election interference. Andrew walks through the cross-examination Senate Democrats didn't run—the statements that went unchallenged, the follow-ups nobody asked, and the one question about the withheld Epstein files that Blanche has still never answered. Then: why he thinks dismantling the government's election-security apparatus isn't neglect, but the point.
Also discussed: the $1.776 billion payout, the document absolving Trump of tax liability, what Blanche told the Epstein victims that simply isn't true, and why Andrew keeps calling BS.
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Andrew Weissmann's new book is out now: https://www.amazon.com/Liars-Kingdom-Trumps-Deceit-America/dp/0316601306

Andrew Weissmann joins Sarah Longwell to discuss a big week in legal news: DOJ's stunning concession in a reporter's lawsuit over the Epstein files, the questions senators must make Todd Blanche answer at his confirmation hearing, and the Trump-appointed judge who torched DOJ's demand for the names of every 2020 election worker in Fulton County. Plus: the DOJ letter that signals a plan to challenge the 2026 midterms, and the Supreme Court's surprising ruling on your phone's location data.
Reining in a Rogue Supreme Court by Norman Ornstein
https://www.contrariannews.org/p/reining-in-a-rogue-supreme-court
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Sarah Longwell and Georgetown University Law Center's Steve Vladek discuss the Supreme Court's final day of the term—a narrow 5-4 ruling upholding birthright citizenship, the court gutting independent agency protections (while carving out a suspicious exception for the Fed), and a rapid-fire tour through rulings on mail-in ballots, trans athletes, campaign finance, TPS for Haitians, and asylum seekers at the border. Plus: why Amy Coney Barrett has become the MAGA right's newest target, and what Steve thinks Alito is waiting for before he retires.
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Sarah Longwell and Andrew Weissmann talk about the Iran nuclear deal—why the "win" Trump is selling actually leaves America with less leverage, fewer allies, and zero nuclear resolution than where we started. Plus: what Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman's book reveals about JD Vance's behind-the-scenes opposition to the war, Trump's habit of comparing himself to history's worst tyrants, and the new DOJ legal theory that could gut Americans' right to sue polluters under environmental law.
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Sarah Longwell is joined by law professor and Strict Scrutiny co-host Leah Litman to discuss the White House’s plan to suspend habeas corpus, JD Vance’s push to invoke the Insurrection Act, the Gavin Newsom investigation, and the 19 Supreme Court decisions that could reshape American democracy before the midterms.
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