Trump v. The Press (with Erwin Chemerinsky)

Stay Tuned with Preet

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, Politics, Government, News

4.8 • 32.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens to a free press when a president takes steps that could discourage critical coverage? This week on the Insider podcast, Preet is joined by Erwin Chemerinsky, constitutional law expert and Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, while Joyce is out. In an excerpt from the conversation, they discuss the Trump administration’s record on the First Amendment, including lawsuits against media organizations and restrictive guidelines on journalists at the Pentagon. In the full episode, Preet and Erwin discuss: – Supreme Court oral arguments in a case that could give a president more power to fire government officials; – The New York Times’s lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s new press policy at the Pentagon; – President Trump’s threat to sue the BBC over an edited video of him; and – Legal challenges to state laws mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms. CAFE Insiders click HERE to listen to the full analysis. Not an Insider? Now more than ever, it’s critical to stay tuned. To join a community of reasoned voices in unreasonable times, become an Insider today. You’ll get access to full episodes of the podcast and other exclusive content. Head to cafe.com/insider or staytuned.substack.com/subscribe. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. This podcast is brought to you by CAFE and Vox Media Podcast Network. Executive Producer: Tamara Sepper; Supervising Producer: Jake Kaplan; Associate Producer: Claudia Hernández; Audio Producer: Matthew Billy; Deputy Editor: Celine Rohr; CAFE Team: Nat Weiner, Jennifer Indig, and Liana Greenway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey folks, Preet here. Joyce is off this week, so I'm joined by Erwin Chimurinsky.
0:06.2	He's a constitutional law scholar, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, and a monthly columnist here at CAFE.
0:12.6	Erwin joins me to break down the Supreme Court oral arguments in a case that could give President Trump
0:16.7	even more power to fire government officials.
0:19.6	We also discuss the state of the First Amendment
0:21.3	in the Trump era as we break down a series of cases with major implications for the freedom of
0:25.9	speech and religion. If you're a member of Cafe Insider, head to the insider feed or click the link
0:31.3	in the show notes of this podcast to hear the full analysis. Stay tuned, listeners. Stick around for an
0:37.0	excerpt from our conversation.
0:38.9	Members of Insider help support our work and get access to full episodes and other subscriber
0:43.3	benefits. We're living in unreasonable times, so join our community of reasonable voices.
0:49.7	Head to cafe.com slash insider or staytuned.substack.com. Now, on to the show.
1:00.6	I do want to talk about something else that is very, very much in your wheelhouse and
1:04.6	expertise and garners a lot of discussion in various aspects of it. I don't know how many
1:10.2	we'll get to. We'll try to get to as much as we can.
1:12.7	That is an amendment to the Constitution, the very first one, which has various aspects, including free exercise of religion, a clause against the establishment of religion, free speech, free press, etc.
1:27.4	The first question I have is, as you've been watching the world spin round,
1:33.5	and lots and lots of lip service, some of it not lip service,
1:37.4	but genuine affection for the First Amendment,
1:40.2	be uttered by politicians, including presidents,
1:44.3	but that some of that is being observed in the breach,
1:48.2	a particular phenomenon,
	...

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