Lawyering Without Law on Strict Scrutiny

Lawyering Without Law. What happens when authoritarianism doesn't abandon the law but uses it to undermine democratic values and institutions? Lawyering Without Law, a podcast from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, takes on this urgent question. Hosted by Katie Glenn Bass and Madov Khosla, the six-part series explores the role that lawyers play in either defending democracy or facilitating the slide into authoritarianism. Episodes feature leading experts, including Kim Lane Shepley on how authoritarian leaders exploit legal systems to consolidate power, Lawrence Lessig on the threat institutional corruption poses to American democracy, and Deborah Pearlstein on how the decades-long erosion of professional norms has fueled the democratic backsliding we're witnessing today. It's sobering, but the conversations also find hope in the lawyers who've refused to bend and the institutions that have held the line. And they offer surprising and ambitious proposals for how the legal profession and American democracy might find their way back. Listen to all six episodes of Lawyering Without Law wherever you get your podcasts.