June 12 - States Sue Trump Under the Emoluments Clause; Bernie Sanders' Warning to the Democratic Establishment; Analogies Between Trump's Base and the Know Nothings of the 1850's

Full Program

Part 1

We begin on a day when the Trump Administration’s travel was again struck down by the Federal Appeals Court with more trouble for him looming on the legal front from lawsuits the attorneys general of the District of Columbia and Maryland filed alleging that Trump has violated Article 1 of the Constitution known as the foreign emoluments clause. Leah Litman a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and writes for takecareblog.com where she has an article “States and the Emoluments Clause”, joins us to discuss a new theory of standing into emoluments litigation. Since Maryland is not a private litigant but a state, they are putting forward the argument that the president’s violation of the Emoluments Clauses is violating the terms under which Maryland surrendered some of its powers over foreign affairs to the federal government and that they have suffered harm to their “sovereign” and “quasi-sovereign” interests.

Part 2

Then we speak with Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University about his article at CNN “Democrats take your cues from Bernie Sanders” and discuss the warning Sanders issued to the Democratic establishment on Saturday at a meeting of progressive activists in Chicago that “Trump did not win the election – the Democratic Party lost the election”. We look into whether the Democrats can seize the great opportunity they have for 2018 as Trump is consumed by growing scandals and the Republicans are getting little done in a Congress they control except for harmful and unpopular legislation.

Part 3