Oct 1, 2026 · 36 min
Courts test executive secrecy as voting fights intensify
SHOW ME THE MEMO!
The episode connects battles over government power, election access, civil rights, and public accountability to decisions that could shape the midterms.
- 1A federal judge ordered review of the legal memo underpinning Caribbean and Pacific boat strikes amid a FOIA challenge.
- 2Wisconsin’s Supreme Court will consider whether judges can extend polling hours after election disruptions, though not before the midterms.
- 3The hosts pair scrutiny of suspicious hangings and a halted Tennessee execution with renewed arguments for comprehensive Title IX protections.
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A federal court orders the Pentagon to provide the legal memo justifying lethal boat strikes, putting executive secrecy under direct scrutiny.
The brief
Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg open with a dense legal and political docket: the Jack Smith report, Wisconsin voting hours, the Federal Reserve renovation, and a memo tied to Caribbean boat strikes.
A federal judge ordered the Pentagon to provide the Office of Legal Counsel memo justifying lethal boat strikes, after the ACLU and Center for Constitutional Rights sought disclosure through FOIA litigation.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear a challenge over judges extending polling hours after election disruptions, a case unlikely to resolve before the midterms but consequential if problems arise.
The episode turns to a halted Tennessee execution, suspicious hangings of Black people in the South, and a rejected portion of Riley Gaines’s NCAA lawsuit, linking each to broader civil-rights stakes.
Listener stories shift the focus from national conflict to civic practice: arranging ballots while traveling, becoming a poll worker, checking measles immunity, and making a plan to vote.