Station Selected:
At the start of the broadcast, the first of what will be semi-regular segments
featuring justice-focused news that, for various reasons, has not received the media
and public attention that it rightly deserves—this week, turning our attention to
what millions of Israeli citizens have been and continue to pursue in their protests
against the anti-judicial proposals of the Prime Minister. The opening segment
includes an exposition of precisely what Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to accomplish
in compromising the independence of the Israeli Courts (including the Supreme
Court) through political interference in everything from the partisan selection of
justices to party-inspired overturning of judicial decisions. Answering the
question, “What are you prepared to do to preserve your nation and its foundations
in the Rule of Law?,” the Israeli populace revolted (peaceably), prompting the
Prime Minister to “suspend” his plan—actions that, as discussed in the broadcast,
communicate important messages and lessons to the people of the United States.
Turning then to the major (if substantively premature) news item in America, a
description of both the anticipated content and likely procedural trappings of the
criminal indictment returned this past week by a grand jury reviewing evidence
that former President Donald Trump violated New York financial laws in paying
“hush money” to women with whom he allegedly had affairs in advance of the
2016 presidential election. Responding to the insightful and focused questions of
program callers, an exposition of the fundamental components of our criminal
justice system, along with a prediction about the chronology and movement of the
pretrial, jury trial, conviction/sentencing, and appellate proceedings just ahead.
After that, an analysis of the recent lawsuit filed against the Norfolk Southern
Railway Company by the Justice Department, seeking the recovery of “clean-up’
costs and fees under the Clean Water Act, in the wake of the disastrous train
derailment and environmental contamination in East Palestine, Ohio. And, in
Texas, the major ruling by a federal judge that a significant if not core component
of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “ObamaCare,” mandating that insurance
companies provide patient-clients with healthy-preserving forms of preventive care
and treatment, is unconstitutional—a ruling now on appeal to a higher federal
court. Finally, the start of analysis of a story in our nation’s continuing post-Dobbs
debate over privacy-reproductive rights—this one from the New Mexico Supreme
Court, in a decision blocking local ordinances prohibiting abortion services.
