Trump Loses in Court — But Pressure Remains on the Press and Late Night (with Mike Pesca)

The Oath and The Office

Corey Brettschneider

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 591 Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2026

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trump just suffered a major Supreme Court defeat. A significant tariffs ruling limits presidential power and reasserts Congress’s authority — applying a doctrine once confined to agencies directly to a president. But don’t mistake this for resolution. A reauthorization attempt could trigger a new wave of litigation and deepen the constitutional fight.

Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang also examine how Judge Cannon stalled Jack Smith at a pivotal moment — and what the prosecution of a former prince reveals about how accountability for powerful leaders can succeed… and how it can fail.

Then we widen the lens.

Mike Pesca (The Gist, NPR) joins us to explore “soft” censorship and the pressure facing American journalism — including the late-night flashpoint. Can regulatory scrutiny, “equal time” rhetoric, and public threats chill speech without an outright ban? We discuss the FCC’s evolving posture, the late-night controversy, the Bari Weiss debate (and Mike’s distinct take), and what citizens can actually do to resist intimidation.

The courts may be holding.
But pressure on speech — and democratic guardrails — is intensifying.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Oath and the Office podcast.
0:13.8	I am John Fuglesang.
0:15.5	It's been quite a week.
0:17.0	Judge Aileen Cannon is back and a sequel nobody asked for.
0:20.3	The UK police have arrested Prince Andrew.
0:23.0	What does it mean when Britain sacrifices their spoiled, lecherous prince to save an institution
0:28.4	and America sacrifices an institution to save our spoiled lecherous prince?
0:33.3	While their monarchy is acting more Republican than our republic,
0:36.3	we need someone smarter,
0:37.8	braver and bolder than most mortal men, and that is Professor Corey Brett Schneider,
0:42.4	political science, Ivy League professor and the author of The Oath in the Office,
0:45.8	and the star and Mac Daddy of this podcast.
0:48.9	Corey, it's so good to see you. Welcome.
0:51.1	Thanks, John. Your intros get better and more extreme every week, which I appreciate.
0:56.9	Just try to endanger your tenure, professor. That's all I'm trying to do. That's what we're doing here.
1:01.9	And we'll talk about the tariffs case. You know, there's some good news on that front. Of course,
1:06.3	we'll talk about Prince Andrew. And then I'm also happy to say in the second half, we're going to get to a great
1:11.8	discussion with Mike Peska about the question of journalism and the question in particular about
1:16.5	whether or not in a time in which democracy is under attack, the rules of journalism alter or whether
1:22.3	they can stay the same. And it's a spirited discussion. I hope you'll hang out and listen to that too.
1:32.7	It really is. We don't see eye to eye on everything, and yet it's a spirited discussion. I hope you'll hang out and listen to that too. It really is. We don't see eye to eye on everything, and yet it's a really fun, funny conversation.
1:39.2	But, Professor, obviously, we got to talk about the elephant in the room, the 6-3 majority of the Supreme Court last week,
	...

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