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The Bill Press Pod

10 Bad Laws That are Ruining America. With Elie Mystal

The Bill Press Pod

BP Pods

Fox News, Hillary Clinton, Young Turks, Donald Trump, Jamie Benson, Progressive, News, Bernie Sanders, Progressive Talk, Liberal, Cnn, Msnbc, Stephanie Miller, Bill Press, Thom Hartmann

4.7601 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of the Bill Press Pod, Bill interviews Ellie Mystal, Legal Analyst and Justice Correspondent for The Nation, on his new book, Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. Mystal identifies ten laws plus a constitutional amendment that he argues are detrimental to America. During their conversation, they discuss the misconception of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) as redefined by Republicans, the problematic impact of the Hyde Amendment on abortion rights, and the adverse effects of mandatory minimum sentencing from crime bills supported by both Democrats and Republicans. They also delve into voting rights, gun liability laws, and the lack of effective representation in Congress, suggesting reforms like the Wyoming Rule for more equitable representation. Mystal underscores the role of neoliberalism in shaping harmful laws and calls for a reevaluation of laws passed before the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

You can purchase your own copy of Elie Mystal’s new book here.

Today Bill highlights the work of The Nation magazine. A powerful progressive voice for over 160 years. Bill has been a subscriber for decades and it gives a platform for people like Elie Mystal. Sign up at TheNation.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Searching for a romantic summer getaway. Escape with Rich Girl Summer, the new Audible original

0:05.2

from Lily Chew. The exquisitely talented Philippa Sue, returning to narrate her fifth

0:10.2

Lily Chew title. This time, Philippa is joined by her real-life husband, Stephen Pasquale,

0:15.5

set in Toronto's wealthy cottage country, aka the Hamptons of Canada, rich girl Summer follows the story of Valerie,

0:22.1

a down-on-her-luck event planner posing as a socialite's long-lost daughter, while piecing

0:26.5

together the secrets surrounding a mysterious family and falling deeper and deeper in love with the

0:31.7

impossibly hard to read and infuriatingly handsome family assistant, Nico. Caught between pretending to belong

0:38.2

and unexpectedly finding where she truly fits in,

0:41.3

Valerie learns her summer is about to get far more complicated

0:44.0

than she ever planned.

0:45.8

She's in over her head and head over heels.

0:48.5

Listen to Rich Girl Summer, now on Audible.

0:51.2

Go to audible.com slash Rich Girl Summer.

1:05.0

Hello, good friends. Welcome back to the bill press pod. Good to see you again. You know, years ago, when I was a staffer in the California state legislature, a state senator introduced a bill

1:11.7

requiring that for every new bill passed, an old bill, an existing bill, had to be scrapped.

1:19.5

Of course, everybody laughed it off.

1:21.3

It never became law.

1:22.8

But I actually thought it made a lot of sense because there's certainly a lot of dumb laws we should get

1:29.2

rid of, and a lot of dangerous ones, too. And now along comes Ellie Mistow, one of the nation's

1:36.8

sharpest legal experts, making a similar argument. In his new book called Bad Law, Out Today, by the way, Mestow makes a strong case

1:47.7

for getting rid of 10 bad laws that he says are ruining America. The list may surprise you.

1:55.3

They range from laws on voter registration to airline regulation, to criminal sentencing, to gun manufacturers,

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