The Strategy of a Lawless Regime episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 7, 2026 · 57 MIN

The Strategy of a Lawless Regime

from Main Justice · host Andrew Weissmann, Mary McCord

There’s a lot to unpack this week, not least of which being the President’s open suggestion of committing war crimes against Iran. Mary and Andrew begin by underscoring the Geneva Conventions stipulation limiting the use of force in wartime to military targets – not civilian ones. Then, a major shakeup at the Department of Justice: Attorney General Pam Bondi is out. Andrew compares her ouster to Trump’s firing of Jeff Sessions in his first term, and how the “sycophantic” nature of her allegiance to Trump did not save her job. Next, they turn to last week's oral arguments before the Supreme Court over birthright citizenship. Mary, who is steeped in the case, came away thinking that “the solicitor general has a much greater hill to climb” to convince a majority of Justices to uphold Trump’s executive order at issue. Last up, the co-hosts look at another of Trump’s EO’s being challenged that would restrict mail-in voting, despite defending his own use of voting by mail in Florida's Special Election in late March. This podcast is also available on YouTube at ms.now/mainjustice. Further reading: This is the Just Security piece Andrew referred to: When War Crimes Rhetoric Becomes Battlefield Reality: The Slippery Slope to Total War on Iran Here is Mary’s MS NOW piece: The embarrassing lesson of Pam Bondi’s confirmation hearing. Here is Trump’s EO on mail in voting that was immediately challenged: ENSURING CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION AND INTEGRITY IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads. You'll also get exclusive bonus content from this and other shows. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Apr 7, 2026

Embed this episode

Pam Bondi is out, SCOTUS hears birthright citizenship, and Trump keeps trying to restrict mail-in voting. Plus: Trump's suggestion of war crimes in Iran.

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.

NOW PLAYING

The Strategy of a Lawless Regime

0:00 57:59

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Main Justice?

This episode is 57 minutes long.

When was this Main Justice episode published?

This episode was published on April 7, 2026.

Can I download this Main Justice episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!