Award-winning columnist, writer, speaker and editor
The defamation trial between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News starts this week. Though Dominion uncovered a trove of texts and emails from people at Fox News who knew calling the 2020 election stolen was a lie, proving “defamation” is a high bar in the United States. Can Dominion win the case? And even if Fox News can win the legal case, is their reputation shot?
Guest: Erik Wemple, Washington Post media critic
A judge has revoked FDA approval of mifepristone. But the FDA could fight back – in more ways than one.
Last week a federal judge in Texas refuted the FDA approval for mifepristone, a pill used for medication abortions, which would suspend that approval across the country.
But some experts say – plenty of drugs don’t have FDA approval, and are still widely distributed… from baby formula, to multivitamins.
Guest: Rachel Rebouché, dean and James E. Beasley professor of law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law and faculty fellow at the Center for Public Health Law Research.
The Tennessee House, which has a Republican supermajority, voted last week on motions to expel three Democratic members for “disorderly behavior” after they led protest chants from the floor of the chamber.
Two Black lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson—both in their late 20s and new to the House this session—were ousted. The motion to boot the other Rep. Gloria Johnson, who’s white, failed by one vote.
Guest: Melissa Brown, state politics reporter for The Tennessean.
A ProPublica investigation revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas has been gifted luxury vacations by Republican donor and billionaire Harlan Crow. For over two decades, Justice Thomas has taken private jets, gone on yachts and stayed at private resorts alongside powerful Republican donors, all funded by Crow. For the most part, Justice Thomas did not disclose these vacations.
The investigation raises questions on the legality of these types of gifts, as well as the lack of oversight and ethics standards for the Supreme Court. Did these vacations break the law? To what extent could Justice Thomas’s court rulings have been influenced by Crow and other people on these trips? And even if some of these gifts may not have been illegal, why doesn’t the Supreme Court have more oversight and ethical guidelines to prevent potential conflicts of interest?
Guest: Justin Elliot, reporter at ProPublica.
A federal judge has struck down a provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring private insurers to provide preventive care—screenings and the like—at no cost to patients.
But preventive care is a good investment for insurance companies and for national health. It’s something Americans already don’t get enough of — but is anyone willing to step in and save it?
Guest: Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent Kaiser Health News, host of the “What the Health” podcast
In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court election is breaking records when it comes to campaign spending on a judicial race. With abortion rights for Wisconsinites, their state’s electoral geography, and potentially the fate of the 2024 presidential election on the line, that big ticket spending makes sense. But will it make a difference in who gets the seat?
Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, senior staff writer for Slate.
In a history-making move, a grand jury voted to indict a former president. We’ll have more answers about the details of the charges after Donald Trump’s Tuesday arraignment, but what this means for the GOP nomination, the 2024 race, and for future presidents in politically-hostile states is still up in the air.
Guest: Ankush Khardori, former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice.
It’s a rare bi-partisan point of agreement: the price of insulin is too high—and it’s still rising. With the stakes literally life-or-death for millions of Americans, what can be done?
Guest: Bram Sable-Smith, Midwest correspondent for Kaiser Health News.
Former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley announced that she is running to be president in 2024—challenging Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. How will she define herself in contrast to the former president—her former boss—without losing his base?
Guest: Ed Kilgore, political columnist for New York magazine.
Since the 1980s, hospice has been covered by Medicare, and it’s come to be an expected part of the healthcare that millions of Americans receive at the end of their lives. But beneath the pamphlets of patients living out their days in comfort lies an uglier reality: a cottage industry that frequently misappropriates taxpayer dollars in the name of profit.
Guest: Ava Kofman, investigative reporter for ProPublica.
