Representative Adam Schiff has proposed a new constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, which has allowed big money and corporations to donate to political campaigns. To discuss, we FEATURE Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy. Professor Spelliscy teaches Election Law, Corporate Governance, Business Entities, and Constitutional Law at Stetson University College of Law. She is also a Brennan Center Fellow. She is the author of the book Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State (Carolina Academic Press, 2016) and the book Political Brands (Edward Elgar forthcoming 2019). Professor Torres-Spelliscy has testified before Congress, and state and local legislative bodies as an expert on campaign finance reform. Media includes: The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The New York Times, Time, Bloomberg, Mother Jones, Newsweek on Air, Politico, Slate, The National Journal, USA Today, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, NBC.com.

A federal court has ruled that the FCC acted lawfully when it repealed rules of net neutrality set during the Obama administration. To discuss, we FEATURE Lisa A. Hayes, Esq. Hayes is Vice President, Strategy & General Counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), working to champion individual rights and liberties in the digital age. She leads CDT’s litigation practice, helping to inform courts about issues where technological advances are outpacing the law. Her recent work includes efforts to limit government surveillance, advance consumer privacy, protect free expression online, and preserve net neutrality. Media includes: The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, NPR, Fox News.

A year ago, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Instanbul. To discuss, we FEATURE Mona Eltahawy. Eltahaway is an award-winning New York-based journalist and commentator and an international lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues. She was a news reporter in the Middle East for many years, including in Cairo and Jerusalem as a correspondent for Reuters and she reported from the region for The Guardian and U.S. News and World Report. She was born in Egypt and has lived in the U.K, Saudi Arabia and Israel and is currently based in New York. Since she moved to the U.S. in 2000, Ms Eltahawy's views on Arab and Muslim issues have become sought after by producers and college campuses alike. She has been a guest analyst on ABC Nightline, PBS Frontline, BBC TV and Radio, The Doha Debates, CNN, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra, MSNBC, VOA, Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and various NPR shows.

Last year in Dallas, an off duty police officer entered the wrong apartment and shot Botham Shem Jean, an unarmed black man who was in his home watching TV. Yesterday, the officer, Amber Guyger, was found guilty for murder. To discuss, we FEATURE Lenese Herbert. Herbert is a Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law, where she teaches Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, Social Media and the Law, and Administrative Law. She is an expert on (im)proper policing, Fourth Amendment search and seizure law, and criminal trial practice. Herbert co-authors Constitutional Criminal Procedure, a problem-based casebook adopted in a number of law schools across the U.S., as well as Criminal Law: Skills and Values. She is a contributing author to Race to Injustice: Lessons Learned From the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case. Media includes: Voice of America, Al-Jazeera English, NBC News Channel 4 (Washington, DC), WTTG Fox 5 (Washington, DC), The Washington Post. 

Netflix's new miniseries Unbelievable is a true crime series that tells the story of a young woman who is raped and has to endure an investigation during which the police officers do not believe her.  The series has received good reviews from critics and to discuss, we FEATURE Angela Esquivel Hawkins. Esquivel is an Assistant Dean at Stanford University’s Graduate Life Office. She is also Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the As One Project, a national 501(c)(3) organization that supports friends and family of survivors of sexual assault. A survivor of sexual assault, Angela has committed herself to leveraging traumatic experiences into powerful catalysts for change. From 2011-2015, Angela taught a sex-positive, consent-based course in Human Sexuality to undergraduates at the George Washington University, work she was inspired to do after serving as a rape crisis counselor for the District of Columbia Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC). Media includes: SELF, Huffington Post.

The U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general released a review that criticizes the Drug Enforcement Administration arm of the department for authorizing large quantities of painkillers to be produced despite the increase in opioid-related deaths. To discuss, we FEATURE Regina LaBelle, JD. LaBelle is a Distinguished Scholar and Program Director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. She manages a project portfolio focused on the opioid epidemic, addiction policies, barriers to treatment for substance use disorders, and public health approaches to drug policy. Before joining the Institute, LaBelle was a political appointee in the Obama Administration where she served as the Chief of Staff and senior policy advisor in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). At ONDCP she oversaw the Agency’s efforts to address the opioid epidemic and other drug policy issues. Media includes: The Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN, MSNBC.

A federal judge has ruled that Harvard does not discriminate against Asian Americans. The lawsuit was brought up by a group called Students For Fair Admissions, who claimed that the university was favoring black and Hispanic applicants, and has been considered a threat to affirmative action. To discuss, we FEATURE Karin Wang. Wang is the Executive Director of UCLA School of Law's David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. In that role, she heads the nation’s leading academic program focused on training the next generation of lawyers working in nonprofit, advocacy, and government sectors. Previously, she was the Vice-President of Programs & Communications for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, the nation’s largest legal organization for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. For more than 20 years, Wang has advocated for civil rights and immigrant rights, covering issues such as race discrimination and defamation, language rights, immigration and immigrant integration, and LGBT equality. Media includes: The New York Times, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, KPPC. 

Forever 21 has filed for bankruptcy and will be closing down its international stores and 178 stores in the U.S. Concerns have been brought up about the hundreds of jobs that will be lost as a result. To discuss, we FEATURE Nikki Fortunato Bas. Fortunato Bas is executive Director of the Partnership for Working Families. She leads the Partnership’s network of 17 regional affiliate organizations, who bring together coalitions of community groups, labor unions, environmentalists, people of faith and women’s organizations to build more just, sustainable and democratic cities. The Partnership wages campaigns to give all working people, especially of color, a voice in our community, access to jobs with dignity and a healthy environment where we can raise our families. Media includes: The Hill, The Huffington Post, San Francisco Chronicle.

It is currently Hispanic Heritage Month and to discuss, we FEATURE Isaura D. Gonzalez, Psy. D. As a Clinical Psychologist and Educator, Dr. Gonzalez has utilized her expertise and trailblazing skills to support others, specifically the Latina population, to expand their businesses and create top sum financial legacies. She is the founder of The National Society of Latina Leadership and Empowerment, an organization that offers students of all ages the opportunity to connect with others and empower themselves through networking and leadership. Media includes: Business Fit Magazine, Huff Post, NBC Universal, NPR.