The Oath and The Office

Donald Trump’s revenge politics hit resistance this week — not by accident, but because citizens, journalists, lawyers, judges, and lawmakers kept pushing.

This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang break down a rare hopeful stretch for democracy: a judge blocks payouts from Trump’s so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, another judge reopens questions around Trump’s IRS settlement, courts reject Trump’s attempt to put his name on the Kennedy Center, and thousands of federal lawyers are leaving rather than serve an authoritarian agenda.

Corey and John also discuss the fight inside CBS and 60 Minutes, the role of independent journalism, and why democracy depends not just on courts, but on citizens willing to expose corruption, demand accountability, and keep the constitutional system alive.

Trump’s claim of power above the law is showing up on every front: bogus prosecutions, deportation threats, attacks on speech, war powers, and military escalation abroad.

This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang start with the dismissal of human trafficking charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A federal judge found the prosecution vindictive and selective, a major rebuke to a Trump DOJ that tried to punish a man after he fought back against his unlawful deportation.

Then Corey and John turn to Mahmoud Khalil, where the Trump administration is pushing another dangerous claim: that noncitizens can be detained and deported for political speech. They also discuss new congressional pushback against Trump’s war in Iran and the DOJ indictment of Raúl Castro, as the administration invokes “law and order” while expanding American military power in Latin America.

Then filmmaker Andrew Glazer joins the show to discuss "Spring of the Vanishing", his investigative documentary on the American military’s alleged complicity in killings of innocent civilians by the Mexican military during the drug war. The conversation becomes a broader warning about how the war on drugs has been used to destroy civil liberties at home and abroad.

The theme running through all of it: Trump’s imperial presidency is not just a foreign policy problem. It is a threat to constitutional democracy here at home.

Subscribe to The Oath and The Office wherever you get your podcasts, and help us expose abuses of presidential power before they become the new normal.

Watch Spring of the Vanishing: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0LAGR1QS4QZ2PIWOMLFK18KJ2K

What is the Supreme Court doing when it acts without full briefing, oral argument, or a real explanation?

This week on The Oath and The Office, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor joins the podcast to explain the Court’s shadow docket: the emergency orders process that has become one of the most powerful and least understood parts of American government.

Kantor discusses the Supreme Court memos she obtained with Adam Liptak, what they reveal about Chief Justice John Roberts, and how they relate to the Court’s supposed image as a neutral “umpire".

Corey and John also discuss Trump’s proposed “anti-weaponization” compensation fund, the politics of abortion and the abortion pill at the Supreme Court, and the Court’s emergency order allowing Alabama to move forward with redrawn congressional maps.

In this episode:
What the shadow docket is and why it matters
Jodi Kantor on Supreme Court memos
The two sides of John Roberts
Why the “umpire” model of judging has collapsed
Abortion, Alabama, and emergency Supreme Court power
Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund and the politics of grievance
The immunity case and presidential power
Link to Jodi Kantor's book, How to Start: https://jodikantor.com/how-to-start

Link to Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak's reporting on the secret memos of the Supreme Court: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/us/politics/supreme-court-shadow-docket.html

This week on The Oath and The Office, Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang begin with the new redistricting wars, as southern states move to dilute Black Americans’ voting power after a green light from the Supreme Court. They look at Tennessee, Alabama, and the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision striking down a voting plan approved by voters.

Then, they turn to citizenship itself: DOJ support for stripping citizenship from naturalized citizens and Trump’s attacks on his own Supreme Court justices.

Corey then speaks with Cecilia Wang, National Legal Director of the ACLU, who argued before the Supreme Court against Trump’s executive order attacking birthright citizenship, with Trump himself watching from the courtroom. Wang explains why the text and history of the Fourteenth Amendment are on her side, how Reconstruction transformed the Constitution, and why the fight over citizenship is part of the larger battle for voting rights, civil liberties, and democracy itself.

The Supreme Court is reshaping American democracy — weakening voting rights, empowering the presidency, and narrowing the protections that have defined modern civil rights law.

John Fugelsang and Corey Brettschneider begin with the Court’s assault on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the fallout for democratic participation across the country. They also discuss Trump’s attacks on James Comey, threats against ABC and Jimmy Kimmel, and the broader campaign of intimidation against critics and dissenters.

Then constitutional law scholar Kate Shaw joins the show to discuss how the Court is enabling Trump’s authoritarianism, including the pending fight over Temporary Protected Status, the shadow docket, emergency rulings on immigration and executive power, and her recent exchange with Senator Josh Hawley over nationwide injunctions.

What happens when the courts weaken voting rights while expanding presidential power? And what does it mean for the future of constitutional democracy?

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