Here we go. Here we go. Good evening everybody. Elections have consequences, and some of those consequences came to fruition today because we had some major decisions by the Supreme Court. So, good evening. Welcome everyone. Make sure you hit the like and the thumbs up. It does affect the algorithm. More people become aware of our conversation and our channel. So I am so glad that you are here. Let us know where you are streaming from. We have some experts here who are going to talk to us about these decisions that are going to affect your life. Okay. So the information that you're going to get today is going to be important to you moving forward, not only with your daily lives but also how you decide who you're going to vote for come November and then November of 2028. Okay. So, four court decisions today. Hit the like and the thumbs up again. It affects the algorithm. All of these four court decisions matter. Some of them should scare you. Some of them you should feel comfortable about because I think it was a mixed bag. But we'll talk to Monique Presley in just a moment and she'll discuss that with us. For 91 years though, there has been a wall between the president and roughly two dozen agencies that Congress created to be independent.
We're talking about the FTC, Federal Trade Commission, the EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the NLRB, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These agencies regulate almost every facet of American life. That's why it's important for you, your workplace, your credit, your products, the planes you fly on, the nuclear plants in your backyard. Congress created them to be independent from presidential politics so that when the president does change, the experts running these agencies do not change with him. Okay? When the president changes, I should say, the folks who are running these agencies do not change with him. So that career scientists and economists, I should say, and lawyers can do their jobs based on facts and evidence and the law, not based on who the president wants them to be loyal to, not based on ideology, politics or any of that. That wall today, the Supreme Court busted it down. That wall is gone. The Supreme Court ruled six to three today that Donald Trump had the right to fire the FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter without cause. That's a case that goes back. Monique is going to explain it to you. Without any reason at all, he can fire her simply because her continued service was inconsistent with his administration's priorities. That is the exact language they used, inconsistent with his priorities. So, they're expanding presidential powers by doing this. She was not corrupt, Miss Slaughter. She was not incompetent. She was not neglecting her duties. She just was not loyal enough to Donald Trump. And the Supreme Court said that is enough. As you can imagine, the three liberal justices said, 'This is some crazy shit.' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, 'The president may remove his subordinates at will.' At will. Justice Gorsuch wrote a concurring opinion and said, 'The independent agencies are not so independent after all.' And Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has now read two dissents from the bench in one week, two in a matter of a week, a matter of seven days, two which almost never happens, read another one today. She said the court gives the president a power unknown to even the English crown against which the founders revolted, unknown even to the English crown. We're talking about the king here. Now there were some other things that were not in favor of the president and we'll discuss those. Let me bring in now Monique Presley, attorney, legal mind, friend of the show, personal friend. Monique, was it a mixed bag? Because I thought that the decision about Lisa Cook, the former Fed, she's not the Fed chair, but she's a governor. All right, a Fed governor. So he said he could not fire her at will. And then there were other things about mail-in ballots, which surprised me that he is so against mail-in ballots because he mails in his own ballot to Florida every time he has to vote. So, what happened today?
I think it was a better than average bag when you weigh the things that are important, the ones that matter the most to the most people. Obviously, giving more power for these just no matter whether they did something wrong or not type firings. That's on the negative side of what the court came back with today. And I could see how sometimes it seems like the court is saying, 'Okay, we're about to sting over here. So where we can and where we have wiggle room, let's go ahead and give him something over here.' You know, I mean, baby needs a blankie is kind of the way that things are going right now. And so that's going to end up going back to a lower court and he is going to be able to work his will with some of these federal appointees in these used to be more independent agencies than they are now. But that is juxtaposed with the court saying no with the Federal Reserve Board. You cannot just because you want to, just because of an accusation, absent any findings of fact, just remove a governor. In this instance, obviously, a black woman, Governor Dr. Lisa Cook, they said you can't just fire her because you want to because there's some allegation of malfeasance out there. These actually have to be proven. She gets due process. This is going to have to go through the system. She's going to have to be allowed to respond. So, it's going to go back and work its way through the courts. It will go back to the circuit court to figure out whether there was any justification for the firing. So, I just hats off to Abby Law and company. Job well done in defending this case and ensuring that there is a check on presidential power in this instance.
Yeah. Let me ask you, full transparency, Abby Law is my attorney as well. I think journalists should be transparent. Now, let me say when you said, you know, giving him something like giving him a bone, I thought of that, too. I was like, you know, with the, because they couldn't rule with the Lisa Cook thing. It's just there was no law, I guess, precedent for that. So, they had to give him the other thing with the at-will employees. Is that what you're saying about that? Because I felt like it looked like they're handing him something because they knew they couldn't give him the big thing, right?
I mean, at-will employees can be fired. But the difference has been that you used to not be able to do that in these pseudo-independent or independent agencies. The president couldn't just come from on high. That's why Justice Sotomayor's opinion says what it says. It's more power than a king. You know, you don't even have immediate supervisors saying that there is an issue or wanting to terminate them as employees. And I hate to think of our Supreme Court as taking that kind of balancing test. Well, we're not going to give him this, so let's give him that. I also hate the way these decisions are rolling out because I see the people in the comments. I have no idea what they're going to do about birthright citizenship. I'm happy to come and talk to you about it tomorrow when we know.
Oh, you will be here, young lady. [laughter]
They're saying it's going to be tomorrow. And we are all like, 'Okay, they just did the right thing on mail-in ballots. So, what does this mean? What is this saying? They did a terrible wrong thing on immigration.' It's just I don't know. Done. I'm rambling. What's your next question? [laughter]
No, I know how you feel, Monique, because I was reading all of these decisions today. And I want to bring in our DC correspondent because he's been doing this, Daniel Grimes, to help us out here. Daniel, you have been studying these things. So, good evening to you. So, there are four today that were decided, but as Monique said, the big one, the one that people are concerned about, they were concerned about the Lisa Cook thing. That was a huge thing. Mail-in ballot is a huge thing. As Monique said, the ones that mean the most to the most people, I think fairly so, were decided in the people's favor and not in Donald Trump's favor. But the ones tomorrow, that birthright citizenship is the one that everybody is waiting on. And you said that the protocol is that they're not going to go away, right? Because they're going on vacation. They have to decide these things and announce them tomorrow.
Yeah. Chief Justice John Roberts said that tomorrow is going to be the final decision day, which means we're going to hear the big cases. I mean, that's one of the beautiful things about the Supreme Court is we know at least that it's coming. We don't know obviously what they're going to decide. [sighs] It's going to be a big day, Don. I mean, 10:00 a.m. we're going to get either probably they're going to start with there is a case about a West Virginia girl. Monique could probably speak more to the intricacies of the case, but it's going to be a case about transgender rights. And it comes on the last day of Pride Month, but it's going to be can this transgender young girl participate in her school sports and it's going to have implications for transgender youth and just transgender people in public education settings more broadly. So, that's going to be a big case. And then obviously the 14th Amendment, can they overturn birthright citizenship? President Trump, I don't know Andy if you have this one, but he was again lying today, saying the US is the only country in the world that does birthright citizenship. That's just not true. There are a handful of countries that do it. So, he continues to lie about that. He lies about the mail-in ballot saying that we're the only one that does that. That's also not true. So, he did say that he was going to accept the decision, which how else I mean, I guess he could storm the Supreme Court, so I don't know what else he can do. He's going to have to accept the decision, but he did say that today from the Oval Office. Don, this is what he said about mail-in ballots. Here it is.
What do you make of the Supreme Court ruling today in regards to the mail-in ballots and what comes next for the Save Act after today's ruling? Well, because of the mail-in ballot ruling, which was a little bit surprising, gives people more time to vote illegally, let's say, but the Save Act is even more important. And that's the right. You have to be a citizen of our country. Okay? You have to show you're a citizen of our country called citizenship. Voter ID by photo, photo voter ID and no mail-in ballots unless you're in the military, disabled, you're ill or you're away or even on a vacation. We're being very open about it. It's pretty easy and we'll have honest elections. But the ruling, which a lot of people were waiting for, that was a ruling that was I think it was very detrimental to honest elections. But it is what it is. Basically they're keeping it a little bit the way it is. Now they may have a little bit of a restriction based on the word about firing the parliamentarian. And then you have the very important one, the Slaughter case, which we'll talk about if you ask that question. But...
Okay, Monique, he just, I saw you shaking your head. Why does this man, this man just lies through his teeth over and over and over again? He can't help himself. And again, let's just be very clear about this. He is not in the military. He mails in his ballot. He should not have an exception or any exemption even as president of the United States for a mail-in ballot. It's okay for him, but it's not okay for anyone else. And this does not increase the incidence or likelihood of voter fraud. It's just not true.
Of which there is no evidence. And that's why I was shaking my head because this big lie, he just continues to keep telling it. And by saying that, giving people more time for their mail-in ballots to be counted, that the court ruled that yes, they can be turned in up to election day and then you get the grace period after that. That stays in place. He says more time to vote illegally. The only time the vote is legal is when he wins. Any other time, the vote is illegal and it is not based in fact. And it is so damaging and dangerous because there are people who only get their news from places that spout these lies as if they are true without any foundation whatsoever. And then it's also just dangerous and degrading to our country. He's an embarrassment in so many different ways, but to me, this is one of the most egregious because our ability to have free and fair elections and to put in office the person of our choosing at the ballot box is one of the fundamentals of this country. It is one of those we fought, bled, died to have it, and we now are again fighting for it. And he doesn't mind tearing all of that up from the root to suit his own selfish purposes.
Well, and if I can just jump in here, y'all know why he did it. He is publicly posting on Truth Social. We need to pass the Save America Act. Blow up the filibuster. And all that is is a voter disenfranchisement act. It's going to require a voter ID to register to vote. You're going to have to have a passport, a hard ID. That's going to mean millions of people are going to be left out in the cold, not able to vote. And that is exactly what this president wants. He wants that voter disenfranchisement bill to pass. And you know who else wants it to pass. And again, Andy, if you have this, play it because it's powerful. Speaker, we had this in the newsletter. Speaker Johnson was over the weekend was talking to the faith, I think it was on Friday, the faith coalition, a bunch of donors to the Republican party and he said listen, all you have to do is get out there and vote and we got to make sure we pass this Save America Act because I am going to protect you and Democrats are going to get into office and they're going to actually do what Congress is supposed to do which is oversight of the executive branch. And he said, 'Oh, don't do that. I will be there to protect you.' Andy, if you have it, can you play that? Because I think that is what Republicans, they're saying the quiet part out loud, Don.
Yeah. I'm not sure if Andy has that. Andy, do you have that soundbite?
No, I'll find it from earlier.
But just going on what Daniel said, it also folds the two things fold into one. Like the reason Speaker Johnson wants this, the reason Trump wants this is not just in order generally. They are thinking about the midterms. And that is why I don't talk to anybody about anything right now without mentioning registering to vote, being prepared to vote, having a voter plan, getting voters out because they know the only way to hold on to power is to keep as many people as possible from voting in November. Otherwise, they are toast. They are out of here. And the reason that matters is not just to check on the president's power, but for these Supreme Court cases where they're sending things back, where they're refusing to take the bigger issue and they're saying it's up to Congress whether we have a right to autonomy to our body. It's up to Congress in order to put the right legislation in place for voting rights or for George Floyd justice and policing. They're saying Congress, Congress, Congress, not this Congress that we have. And so the only way we will get those stronger measures that we need for the things that the court is not willing to do with its branch of government is by getting in members in the Senate and then the House who are willing to do their job, pass laws, stricter laws, clearer laws so that it can't get to the Supreme Court and them claim that Congress was all of a sudden unclear after they've decided four cases in a row where Congress was crystal clear. And now on the fifth case, they're like, well, we're unsure of the intent. It's ridiculous the gymnastics, the bending over backward in order to not do their jobs and to acquiesce to this man.
Yeah. Let's, this is the one for Mike Johnson that you mentioned. Here it is.
If we were to lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats, y'all, impeachment is not even the big concern. They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body and they'll go after the president's family, the cabinet, his donors and friends. Half of you in this room will be targeted. I run the protection program. I'll take care of you. Okay. We're going to win. We're going to win the midterm. Okay. All right.
I'm just surprised he said it out loud.
I mean, aren't they supposed to, but isn't that their job is to do, I don't know if it's to investigate people, but Donald Trump is investigating everyone. What the [__] is he talking about? Donald Trump is investigating everyone.
And that's why he said not just Trump and his family in case they don't care anymore about them right now, but he said you too. That is intimidation. That is threat. That is throwing everyone's personal emotional stake into something that is not supposed to be individual, personal, emotional. They are there to do a job for the American people. And he's saying, 'Oh, no. If we win, I'll protect you. You personally. If we lose, you're going to be investigated.' And I mean, unless you've been around there committing crimes, that's false.
And Don, as you said, this is exactly what Congress is supposed to do when the president wastes 16 plus million dollars of the American public's taxpayer funds to clean up the national, the reflecting pool and it doesn't work. And he gives a no-bid contract offer to one of his friends, Congress is supposed to step in and say, 'Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. We're going to investigate this. Something is fishy.' Or when the president completely blows up the White House to build a ballroom and it's supposed to be not taxpayer funded. It's supposed to be all private donors, but it ends up being taxpayer funded. Congress is supposed to step in and say, 'Wait a minute. That's not okay.' If the president unilaterally tries to go to war with Iran, Congress is supposed to step in and say, 'Wait a minute. Not okay.' That is what Congress's job. We all learned this in the fifth grade, the system of checks and balances. And Speaker Johnson just stood up there at that podium and said, 'Oh, no. Congress actually wants to do its job. I want to make sure we don't continue to do our job.'
Yeah. Monique, if you can explain because one of the viewers put something in the comments that I think is really important where he said the Save Act is really about the president having control over the voter rolls and it's also about disenfranchising women whose maiden name may be different than their married name on their identifications. People who don't have access to, not everyone has a passport and certain documents, but people who don't have access to those will restrict them from voting in America. I thought the process was to open up the polls and the possibility, the access to the voting box rather than restricting the access for people to be able to vote. And that seems like what Republicans are trying to do with the SAVE Act, right?
Because the only way that they keep power is if they have less people voting. They do not trust the American people. They don't trust the voting population to make the right decision. They only trust their own power and have to, as the person who's watching said, access to voting rolls. They've been trying state by state to get states to cooperate and turn over voting rolls, saying it's necessary for ICE or for public safety or they're making up all of these reasons. They're trying to present issues where in different states they want to federalize it where you have to present this documentation, unified documentation, some of which we know disproportionately affects people of color and disproportionately affects those who are poor because getting a passport is expensive. Only a small percentage actually of the population in the United States has one. And sometimes people in larger areas go without having driver's licenses, don't need them in order to do their work, get back and forth. And so these are all things that are a tax. This is a way to keep people from being able to vote. My son has only been voting for a year now. And when we were getting ready to go vote in the primary last week in Maryland, we voted early because we knew we would be on travel. He's like, 'I made sure I had the preamble memorized in case they tried to do something funny.' The kids know, Don, they know that we are seconds away from a jelly bean counting experience. That is exactly where we are. And I laughed him off, but it is true. And for our young people to be in this experience that our grandparents fought to get us out of is shameful. It's shameful.
I love that your son remembered and the only reason I don't remember it, I don't think I remember it from school. I think I remember it from Schoolhouse Rock.
We the people in order to form a more perfect union establish justice. Ensure domestic... No, I remember it from school.
Ensure domestic tranquility.
No, not, I'm gonna say that again, Don, because I don't remember that being at school.
Provide for the common defense. Promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Do ordain and establish this, wait, Constitution of the United States of America, right? That's it.
Go, Don. Schoolhouse Rock graduate.
Schoolhouse Rock. That and I'm just a bill. But yeah, I think that was Schoolhouse Rock. I remember it was a song, we the people in order to form a more perfect union. And that was when they were showing the tea party. And yes, anybody who hasn't watched the full Schoolhouse Rock series, now is your time because we need everybody to have as much information as possible to understand civics and how a bill gets to be a law if it does get to do that and the basics of our government, how our government works. We're going to talk about transgender students and also more about birthright citizenship, which are two biggies that are coming tomorrow. But first, a word from our sponsors.
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Thank you so much to our sponsors at Keep Us Powered. Here we go. Roll it, Andy.
There you go. So, okay, here's the thing.
I don't remember that one, Don.
Well, you guys, 'cause you're 12 years old. You're young. You're a young brother.
But also, Monique, I mean, let's just talk about it. We need more of that because those little things caught on. And when you think 1787, 1786, like all of the... there was, you know, how a bill becomes a law. I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill until they vote for me on Capitol Hill until whatever. And then that was how we learned. I mean, that helped me.
So, we need more civics. We need more people who understand the basics of government. Actually, someone should make Donald Trump sit down and listen or watch the entire Schoolhouse Rock from start to finish.
He would fall asleep. But the thing is, we need it because even while people are frustrated, it would help if they knew which branch of government is actually responsible for solving the thing about which they're frustrated. Because lots of times people are just like, they need to do something. They need to do something, and they'll want Congress to do something Congress can't do. They'll be trying to get the executive branch to do something that's just supposed to be in the Supreme Court or supposed to be in the legislature. And Schoolhouse Rock and basic civics is what can help us at least to have a better understanding so that we can target our frustration and target our advocacy and our activism in the right direction. And it's definitely not advanced citizenship. That should be the basics.
