Many of us are not yet feeling the heat from the dramatic policy changes coming out of the new federal administration - life goes on. But some of us are getting hurt. And some of us are afraid. Because so many of these federal policies are being promulgated by executive order, without Congress and sometimes in defiance of the courts, some observers are concerned that our country is experiencing a constitutional crisis. It is certainly a moment of disruption. How serious is it? Who might be next? How is this moment outside the norm? How worried should we be?
Special Guests:
- Samuel R. Bagenstos, Frank G. Millard Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. Read his interview for this article in The New Yorker: Why “Constitutional Crisis” Fails to Capture Trump’s Attack on the Rule of Law | The New Yorker.
- Ryan Dennett, Program Director, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
- Lauren McCauley, Editor, Maine Morning Star
- Amy Wisehart, President, Maine Library Association
Learn more about this topic:
- Opinion | The One Question That Really Matters: If Trump Defies the Courts, Then What? | The New York Times, Erwin Chemerinsky, March 2025
- Trump’s Legal Overreach Can’t Be Stopped by Courts Alone | US News Opinion, Maya Sen, March 2025
- Deportations Put US ‘Beyond’ Constitutional Crisis: Expert | TIME, March 2025
- ‘I Don’t Care What the Judges Think.’ 7 Times Trump and His Allies Dismissed Court Authority | U.S. News, March 2025
- Is It Really a Coup? - Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance | Substack, February 2025
- Of Course it’s a Coup | Substack, Timothy Snyder, February 2025
- Trump administration ordered to unfreeze funding in dispute with Maine over transgender students | WDTN.com, April, 2025
- Tracking Maine’s legal challenges to Trump’s agenda | Maine Monitor, April 2025
- Maine film archive loses major grant as DOGE cuts take effect | BDN, April 2025
- Maine State Library lays off 13 workers, will restructure after losing federal funds | PPH, April 2025
- How Trump’s actions have most impacted Maine | PPH, April 2025
- $1.5M in funding pulled from Maine DOC over trans inmate, Bondi says, April 2025
- Maine farmers, brewers concerned about next round of tariffs | Maine Morning Star, April, 2025
- Here’s a running list of all the probes, funding cuts since Trump threatened Maine | Maine Morning Star, April 2025
- Maine libraries brace for cuts as federal funding faces threat | Lewiston Sun Journal, April 2025
- How Trump’s actions have most impacted Maine | centralmaine.com, April 2025
- Federal workers at Togus and BIW affected by cuts to union rights | BDN, April 2025
- Maine DHHS Outlines Impacts on Public and Behavioral Health Services from Termination of Federal Health Grants | DHHS, March 2025
- Dozens laid off at Maine CDC after federal cutbacks | PPH, March 2025
- Good Shepherd Food Bank says federal cuts increase need for more state investment | Maine Morning Star, March 2025
- MDI Bio Lab Responds to Announced Cuts in NIH Research Grants, February 2025
- Federal Funding Freeze Poses Immediate Existential Threat To Maine’s Response To Domestic Violence | MCEDV, January 2025
Tune into the broadcast at 4:00 p.m., Friday, April 18, on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, streaming at weru.org. If you miss the broadcast, check back here for the audio archive. Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes | iOS | Android | RSS | Feed | Instructions.