Law and Disorder is a weekly, independent radio program airing on several stations across the United States. Law and Disorder gives listeners access to rare legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, right to dissent and the horrendous practices of torture exercised by the US government.
This program examines the political forces and legislation that are moving the United States into a police state. Four of the top progressive attorneys and activists host the program and bring an amazing, diverse line up of guests from grassroots activists to politically mindful authors. Most importantly, Law and Disorder brings access to attorneys who give insights to some of the most controversial cases. Law and Disorder will sometimes be the generator of news within the radio echo-chamber throughout the country.
Program website – http://www.lawanddisorder.org/
March 18, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
SCOTUS Oral Arguments Social Media Platforms and Robin Anderson on US-Israel Media Genocide Complicity
SCOTUS Oral Arguments Social Media Platforms
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about two different state laws that would regulate how large tech companies control what content can appear on their sites. The laws would compel companies to carry all users viewpoints and would preclude them from de-platforming political candidates. The Florida law at issue in Moody v. NetChoice and its Texas counterpart in NetChoice v. Paxton represent challenges by tech lobbying groups, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Information Association. The plaintiffs claim the laws violate their First Amendment rights to make editorial choices about what content to permit or prohibit. Most members of the Supreme Court seemed to indicate that, in some contexts, the Florida and Texas laws likely violate the First Amendment rights of the social media firms. They also expressed concern that blocking the laws entirely might go too far. Guest " Attorney and Professor Zachary Wolfe at George Washington University in Washington D.C.
Robin Anderson on US-Israel Media Genocide Complicity
International humanitarian aid organizations have been documenting and warning that Israel was committing crimes of war after bombing Gaza after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. Yet major media outlets and social media platforms have consistently ignored their on-the-ground reports. What factors have contributed to Israel avoiding moral and legal culpability for its acts of genocide? As it turns out, there are many, from Israel employing propaganda, falsifying evidence, to the censorship and silencing of US journalists and commentators as well as repression of dissident voices online and off. And powerful Israeli lobbying forces have effectively silenced any criticism of Israel. Guest - Robin Andersen is Professor Emerita of Media Studies at Fordham University. She writes media criticism for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), and other outlets, and works with Project Censored as a contributor to the annual State of the Free Press book.
March 11, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
Legal Analysis Of Recent Supreme Court Decisions and The Right To Boycott Israel
Legal Analysis Of Recent Supreme Court Decisions
The U.S. Supreme Court, securely under the control of a Super Majority of 6 conservative Republican justices, three of whom were appointed by Donald Trump, continues to play a decisive role in undermining our constitutional democracy. This ominous trend continues based on three recent key cases, which we'll be talking about today. All of these cases arise from the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of thousands stormed the US Capitol to prevent Joe Biden from being certified as President. That day, and for many months before and after, Donald Trump attempted to interfere with the constitutionally mandated process for the election of the President of the United States. Guest - Stephen Rohde is a noted constitutional scholar and activist.
The Right To Boycott Israel
The First Amendment gives citizens the right to boycott, as well as the right to free speech and assembly and the separation of church and state. The right to boycott is under attack by right wing anti-democratic forces. Anti-boycott bills have been passed in 37 states so far. The main organization behind canceling our constitutional right to boycott Israel for its horrific crimes against Palestinians is the American Legislative Exchange Committee (ALEC). The boycott started with the Boston Tea Party. The Montgomery Bus Boycott set off the civil rights movement in the south. The Grape Boycott supported Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers in California. The necessity of pushing back against Israel's genocidal practices has never been more evident. Guest - Felice Gelman is a coordinator of the Freedom2Boycott NYS Coalition, which has worked for a decade to defeat legislation penalizing boycotts in New York State and recently released a short film The Right to Boycott.
March 4, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
The Trillion Dollar Silencer: Why There Is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States
The Trillion Dollar Silencer: Why There Is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States
As the notion of perpetual war and a militarized society are normalized, notably absent are antiwar protests by faith-based organizations, civil rights groups, academics, and others. A new book, The Trillion Dollar Silencer, details this absence while laying bare the devastation wrought in the United States and abroad by the military industrial complex. Author Joan Roelofs delves into the pervasive role of military contractors and bases that have come to be economic hubs of their regions. She discusses how state and local governments are intertwined with the Department of Defense (DoD), including economic development commissions at all levels. Contracts and grants to universities, colleges, and faculty come from the DoD and its agencies, such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Guest " Joan Roelofs, Professor Emerita of Political Science at Keene State College. She teaches in the Cheshire Academy for Lifelong Learning and writes for scholarly and political publications. Joan is the author of Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism, and Greening Cities: Building Just and Sustainable Communities. She has been an anti-war activist ever since she protested the Korean War.
February 26, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
The World Supports Julian Assange and Flint Taylor Representing Malcom X’s Family In Reinvestigation Case
The World Supports Julian Assange
In the past few days, the case of imprisoned journalist Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks, who published the truth about the multitude of war crimes committed by United States and its allies, in the course of their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was back in court in London, where Assange is fighting extradition back to the United States. He is charged in the U.S. under an obscure section of the 1917 U.S. Espionage Act. A nationwide and world-wide movement to free Julian Assange has been fighting for Assange's freedom for years now. Virtually all of the worlds leading associations of journalists, and human rights organizations have called for an end to the U.S. governments prosecution and persecution of Assange. Well, why did the Trump Administration decide to prosecute Assange in the first place, and as we now know, at one point plot to murder him? Why did the Obama Administration decide not to continue with the prosecution, and why has the Biden Administration nevertheless continued to do so? And if Julian Assange loses this his last appeal within the British courts, does he have any remaining legal remedy? Guest - Chris Hedges, award-winning journalist and political writer.
Flint Taylor Representing Malcom X's Family In Reinvestigation Case
An assassination is a political murder. Malcolm X was assassinated on February 22, 1965 when he was speaking in the afternoon at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. The New York Police Department and the FBI were involved. J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI, said . . . we must stop the rise of a new black messiah. Days before the murder the NYPD arrested two of Malcolm's bodyguards who would've protected him that afternoon. Two of the men who were convicted of the murder and who each served over 20 years in prison have been exonerated and released. One person, the trigger man, was convicted and served 45 years. But others involved have gone free as a result of withholding information by the police and the FBI. Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represented the family of George Floyd, has been retained by Malcolm X's daughters to pursue the matter. Malcolm X stood for Black consciousness, unity in action, solidarity with those struggling against imperialism worldwide, independence from the two capitalist political parties, and a deep sense of love for people. Guest " Flint Taylor of the Peoples Law Office. Taylor is a nationally recognized civil rights attorney.
February 19, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
Disqualification Clause In Trump v. Anderson and Pro-Israel Media Bias in US Newspapers
Disqualification Clause In Trump v. Anderson
On February 8, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Anderson. The Colorado Supreme Court had held that Donald Trumps participation in the January 6 insurrection makes him ineligible to be president, under the Disqualification Clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Section 3 was enacted by Congress in the wake of the Civil War to disqualify people from holding office who had served in government prior to the war, but then supported the Confederacy. Nevertheless, during the Trump v. Anderson oral arguments, the Supreme Court members all but ignored the January 6 insurrection, the greatest threat to the survival of the Republic since the Civil War. Guest - Marjorie Cohn is Professor of Law Emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild.
Pro-Israel Media Bias in US Newspapers
Analysis of the coverage of Israels war on Gaza by three major newspapers"The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times"reveals consistent bias against Palestinians, according to a recent report by the Intercept. The study uncovered significant disparities in the reporting of casualties and the emotional language used. Terms like slaughter and massacre were disproportionately applied when describing the killing of Israelis compared to Palestinians. For instance, editors and reporters used the word slaughter 60 times to describe the killing of Israelis, but only used it once when referring to Palestinians. Despite the fact that Israels genocide in Gaza has caused an unprecedented loss of life among children"with more than 10,000 reported fatalities as of the present"only two headlines out of more than 1,100 news articles in the study mentioned the word children in connection with Gazan victims. Guest - Mischa Geracoulis is a journalist and critical media literacy expert. Mischa is the Curriculum Development Coordinator at Project Censored, and serves on the editorial board of the Censored Press and The Markaz Review.
February 12, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
Unflagging Support For The Military Siege Against Palestinians In Gaza and 2024 Could Be The Year America Fends Off Dictatorship Or Invite It In
Unflagging Support For The Military Siege Against Palestinians In Gaza
Several months ago, various Palestinian human rights groups and individuals in Gaza and in the U.S., filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court, against President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin, for their failure to prevent, and their complicity in, the Israeli governments unfolding genocide against them, their families, and the 2.2 million Palestinians living in Gaza.Unflagging Support For The Military Siege Against Palestinians In Gaza. What was the testimony of the plaintiffs in this case? What were the legal arguments put forth by their attorneys? Why did the court rule as it did? And what is the significance of the judges finding that it was plausible that genocide was, indeed, taking place in Gaza and its urging of the Biden Administration to examine what the judge termed, its unflagging support for Israel in its war on the Palestinian people? Guest - Attorney Katherine Gallagher is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.
2024 Could Be The Year America Fends Off Dictatorship Or Invite It In
It has been reported that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act which would allow him to deploy troops to crush protests, arrest dissidents, and shut down oppositional media. Trump is a fascist. He's not an advocate of the rule of law or of democracy. He boasts about using violence. In the divorce papers his first wife Ivana Trump filed against him she alleged that he kept a book of Hitlers speeches at his bed table. Like Hitler, Trump appeals to his base and their desire for retribution. Trump said we pledge to you that we will root out the Communist and radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. Hitlers racism was shown by his antisemitism, Trumps by his hatred of immigrants who he says, echoing Hitler, will poison American blood. Guest - Benjamin Carter Hett is a former trial lawyer. He is now a professor of history at Hunter College and the author of several books, including Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put The Nazis On The Witness Stand.
February 5, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
World Court: South Africa Presents Plausible Case That Israel Committed Genocide and Judge Dismisses Genocide Case On Behalf Of Palestinian Human Rights Groups
World Court: South Africa Presents Plausible Case That Israel Committed Genocide
On January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or World Court) handed down a historic, near unanimous ruling in South Africa's case against Israel for its genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. At least 26,422 Palestinians have been killed and 65,087 injured by the Israeli Occupying Forces since Hamas October 7 attacks. More than 85% of the Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced. The World Court concluded that South Africa presented a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The court held that the right of the Palestinians to be free from genocidal acts, and South Africa's right (as a party to the Genocide Convention) to ensure Israel's compliance with the convention, could be protected by six provisional measures (an injunction), which the court ordered Israel to take. Richard Falk, former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the ICJs ruling marks the greatest moment in the history of the [court] because it strengthens the claims of international law to be respected by all sovereign states, not just some. This is particularly significant in light of the recent ruling here in the United States in which the federal district court on January 31 dismissed a lawsuit against Joe Biden, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin for their failure to prevent genocide and complicity in genocide by Israel. Guest - Marjorie Cohn is Dean of the Peoples Academy of International Law and a member of the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Marjorie is also professor of law emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild.
Judge Dismisses Genocide Case On Behalf Of Palestinian Human Rights Groups
On January 26, just hours after the International Court of Justice found a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a historic 4-1/2 hour hearing took place in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California. Palestinians who are suing President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for failure to prevent genocide and complicity in genocide testified before district court Judge Jeffrey White. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the lawsuit on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations Defense for Children International " Palestine and Al-Haq, three Palestinian individuals who live in Gaza, and five Palestinian Americans who have family in Gaza. The plaintiffs petitioned U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White to declare that the United States has violated international law and to issue a preliminary injunction to immediately force Biden, Blinken and Austin to stop providing additional money, weapons, and military and diplomatic support to Israel for its genocide in Gaza. The defendants have asked Congress to appropriate $14.1 billion in military assistance to Israel -- in addition to the $3.8 billion the U.S. already provides to Israel each year. Blinken authorized a $320 million transfer of military equipment to an Israeli manufacturer of precision bomb kits. On January 31, Judge White dismissed the case because it involved a political question which is reserved to the executive and legislative branches Guest - Maria LaHood, one of the attorneys who presented the case for the Palestinian plaintiffs, Maria is Deputy Legal Director at CCR, with expertise in constitutional rights and international human rights.
January 29, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
Israel’s War As A Catalyst For World War and Climate Change And Legal Analysis
Israel's War As A Catalyst For World War
One issue flowing from the Israeli-Palestinian war, at first pretty much ignored, is the danger of the war widening. And as Israel's war in Gaza drags on, with no end yet in sight, the threat of a much wider war grows stronger. Already the war has resulted in military action in Syria and Iraq, by forces loyal to Iran; U.S. military facilities have been targeted in Iraq by Iranian backed forces; the United States and Great Britain are now regularly bombing Houthi military installations in response to the Houthis militarily disrupting the free flow of shipping in the Gulf region, on behalf of their support for Palestine; and, there are now daily clashes between Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israel, across their shared border. So far, the adversaries have been careful to not go beyond an unspoken, but generally recognized tipping point, so as not to bring about open nation-on-nation warfare throughout the region. Guest - Richard Becker is the Western Regional Coordinator of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism coalition, or ANSWER. He is the author of the highly praised book, Palestine, Israel, and the U.S. Empire, published in 2013.
Climate Change And Legal Analysis
For a few decades now we humans have been paying more and more attention to climate change, and have actually instituted some measures aimed at holding climate change in check, but so far with pitifully little effect. In fact, despite these more recent efforts, those greenhouse gases just keep reaching for the sky in greater and greater amounts every year. Is it hopeless? That is, are we humans hopelessly unwilling and unable to do what the science on the matter makes clear must be done if we are not to find ourselves, rather soon, on our way to extinction? Are there, in fact, things we could and should be doing that would actually work? Guest - Professor Eleanor Stein is a climate change, environmental justice and human rights activist and advocate. She teaches climate change and human rights at the State University of New York, at Albany, and has just recorded a Continuing Legal Education session on this subject for the CUNY Law School.
January 22, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
South Africa Brings Israel To World Court and Honoring the Legacy Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
South Africa Brings Israel To World Court
South Africa's application to the ICJ places Israel's genocidal acts and omissions in the broader context of Israel's 75-year apartheid policy, 56-year occupation, and 16-year blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip. This siege was described by the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza as a silent killer of people. South Africa told the court that it unequivocally condemned the targeting of civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and the taking of hostages on 7 October. But, it continued, no armed attack on a States territory no matter how serious " even an attack involving atrocity crimes " can provide any justification for, or defense to genocide. Israel has crossed this line. Israel responded by placing responsibility on Hamas for the situation in Gaza. It accused South Africa of an attempt to weaponize the term genocide. Israel argued that international humanitarian law is the relevant framework " that Hamas committed war crimes. In Israel's view, this is not a genocide case; if anyone was the victim of genocide, Israel claims IT was on October 7 when Palestinian resistance forces killed what Israel claims were 1,200 people. Guest - co-host Marjorie Cohn is Dean of the Peoples Academy of International Law and a member of the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Marjorie is also professor of law emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild.
Honoring the Legacy Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We hear part of an hour long program honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King.Our listeners know all too well that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was shot on April 4, 1968. Not so well known is the radical Dr. King, who said in the last months of his life that:
Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world, declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo.
Joining us are special guests Ruby Sales, a colleague of Dr. Kings and co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson, Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (F.O.R.). Were also joined by author and activist Matt Meyer, a board member of the AJMI.
January 16, 2024 National, News & Public Affairs
Human Rights Lawyer Says UN Failed To Protect Palestinians and CIA Operations Subject To Discovery In Assange Attorneys’ Spying Case
Human Rights Lawyer Says UN Failed To Protect Palestinians
International human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber resigned from the United Nations on October 28, 2023. He had worked for the UN for more than three decades, and was the director of its human rights agency in New York. In his resignation letter he wrote that the UN had failed in its duty to protect Palestinians. Mokhiber accused the US, the UK, and much of Europe, of being wholly complicit in the horrific assault in Gaza. Last week South Africa filed a lawsuit against the government of Israel in the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide. Guest - Attorney Craig Mokhiber, graduated from the University of Buffalo Law School and has lived in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Craig Mokhiber is a Director in the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). A lawyer and specialist in international human rights law, policy and methodology.
CIA Operations Subject To Discovery In Assange Attorneys' Spying Case
On December 19th, a federal court in New York rendered a decision of profound importance, having to do with claims of illegal actions by the CIA, and others, brought by attorneys representing the world-renowned journalist and founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. Assange's attorneys alleged that the CIA violated the attorneys constitutional rights by subjecting them to illegal surveillance during their visits with Assange while he was staying in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been granted asylum. While the other claims of the attorneys were dismissed by the court, the CIA was not dismissed from the lawsuit. And so, the plaintiffs have won a rare opportunity for the clandestine operations of the CIA, which prides itself on secrecy, to now be subjected to public scrutiny and accountability through discovery actions in connection with the plaintiffs claims. Guest - Vincent de Stefano, the chief organizer for the national defense committee for Julian Assange. Mr. De Stefano is a life-long social justice activist and a founding member of the Southern California Assange Defense Committee, as well as an Executive Board member of the national Assange defense committee.