Sep 1, 2026 · 53 min
Courts confront voting limits and executive retaliation
Unlawful and Awful
The episode connects fast-moving court fights over citizenship, voting, speech, AI policy, and cultural institutions to broader questions of constitutional rights and government accountability.
- 1Birthright citizenship and mail-in voting challenges could determine how courts protect access to elections and citizenship.
- 2A ruling protecting immigrants and Afghan allies highlights the First Amendment limits on deportation decisions.
- 3Anthropic’s dispute with the Pentagon tests whether government can punish companies for opposing controversial military AI uses.
Don't miss
The discussion of Anthropic’s opposition to mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, and the alleged retaliation that followed, crystallizes the episode’s free-speech stakes.
The brief
Mary B. McCord and Andrew Weiss return to rapidly developing cases involving birthright citizenship, mail-in ballots, Minnesota’s extradition dispute, protected speech, Anthropic, and the Kennedy Center.
The hosts examine emergency litigation over an executive order targeting birthright citizenship and a Postal Service rule that could disenfranchise mail-in voters before an election.
A First Amendment ruling protecting immigrants and Afghan allies is paired with Anthropic’s challenge to government retaliation after it opposed mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.
The Kennedy Center naming fight becomes a broader test of institutional accountability, as the hosts discuss renewed litigation and the symbolism of rewriting public history.
Across the cases, the episode argues that procedural maneuvers and executive pressure can carry consequences for voting access, speech, citizenship, and public institutions.