A Gentlemen’s Disagreement

We return to our trusty "Six in Sixty" segment this week to touch on a bunch of topics that have been in the news. We begin by discussing Martin Luther King, Jr. and how his words remain as relevant as ever today (8:41-24:38) and then move into discussing the enfolding conflict between the Houthi forces in Yemen and the U.S. and its allies (24:39-38:18). We next turned to U.S. politics to discuss the results of the Iowa caucuses (38:23-50:13) and the Democratic Primary race (50:14-57:27), before concluding by talking about the resignations of Harvard President Claudine Gay (57:33-1:09:41) and Patriots coach Bill Belichick (1:09:42-1:20:53).

We kick off the year by diving into the text of the 14th Amendment in light of the recent decisions in Colorado and Maine that the Amendment bars former President Donald Trump from holding office. We delve into the history of the 14th Amendment, the text of Section 3, whether we think the text applies to President Trump, and whether we think states should pursue this method of potentially keeping him off the ballot.

We close out our year by each choosing our top five stories of 2023--with the least overlap we have had during our three years of doing this episode.

We spent the episode this week delving into the lives and legacies of two of the most significant Americans of the latter-half of the 20th century.  We began by discussing Henry Kissinger, perhaps the most impactful American diplomat of the century (7:01-45:02), before discussing the first female justice of the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor (45:07-1:07:39).

We are joined this week by David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center (SUPRC) and one of the preeminent pollsters in the country (8:19-53:46). David shares how he got into the world of polling, how he turned Suffolk into a polling powerhouse, how polling has changed over the years, lessons from the 2016 polls, and what to watch for with the 2024 polls.

 

After a run of great guests, we are back just the two of us to discuss some of the topics that have been in the news over the past month. We start with a trio of Republican topics: the current state of the presidential candidate field, the election of a new Speaker of the House, and the latest development in the George Santos saga. We then talked about SCOTUS releasing its first code of ethics, whether the current amount of personal debt in the U.S. presages greater economic concerns, and we finish by checking in on the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

We are joined this week by University of Galway Professor Larry Donnelly to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict from a different angle (4:57-43:50). We began by comparing the reactions to the conflict in Western Europe, Ireland, and the U.S., and then dove into some of the history of the Troubles in Ireland, the eventual peace agreement, and the current state of affairs in Northern Ireland. We then debated whether there were any lessons from that conflict that potentially could be taken into the current conflict in the Middle East.

We were joined this week by former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (3:55-53:40). We discussed how his childhood experiences led him to become a public defender and then to launch a longshot bid to become the District Attorney of San Francisco, his historic election and becoming one of the faces of progressive prosecution in the country, the politics behind his eventual recall from that position, and the current state of progressive prosecution in the U.S. 

We are joined by Framingham, Massachusetts City Council candidate Brandon Ward for a discussion about what it is like to run for local office. Brandon talks about why he wanted to run, what he would bring to the office, and the many things he has learned on the campaign trail. 

We are joined this week by Suffolk University Law School Professor Renee Landers for a breakdown of the major cases on the Supreme Court docket this term (3:48-1:00:05). We discuss the two First Amendment/social media cases, the Second Amendment case, the racial gerrymandering case, and several cases presenting challenges to administrative agencies. A great listen for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.