Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance Podcast

If you joined us today at noon, you know E. Jean Carroll and I managed to discuss a wide range of topics. We discussed Trump lawyer Alina Habba’s courtroom performance (E. Jean gave her a higher grade than most journalists and explained why), Trump’s misidentification of a photo of E. Jean as his second wife Marla Maples, and what she plans on doing with the $88.3 million Trump owes her when she gets it.

E. Jean is a national treasu...

Thank you Matt Kerbel, Barbara Taylor, Debbie Hupp, D.L. Lee | SISTERLY LOVE, and BigTentUSA; you were some of the first among the 5.2 thousand Substackers who showed up to listen to my conversation with the amazing Katie Phang tonight. We chatted about law, politics, and what she learned on her family trip to Alaska! If you weren’t able to catch us live, you can watch the video up above.

Join me for my next live video in the app. Y...

What happens when the president federalizes the National Guard on a Saturday night and sends 2000 troops into Los Angeles? You thank your lucky stars you have a chat with authoritarianism expert and author of the Lucid Substack, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, planned for the next day!

Ruth’s ability to analyze Trump’s moves in the light of the behavior of other strongmen is invaluable. Her confidence that protests have value, and more importantly,...

I wanted to give a special shout-out to Founding Subscribers to Civil Discourse as I mark this third anniversary. Thank you for believing in me and this work, and for your support, which is so essential in making this whole thing go!

As a small token of appreciation, I wanted to let you all know that there are a few new items available in the Civil Discourse Shop tonight. Click this link to get there, and you’ll get free shipping on...

If you missed my live conversation with Princeton Professor Kim Scheppele, you’re in luck. You can click on the link above to listen to it (or access the transcript), and you can share it with friends. And you’re going to want to. By the end of our conversation, there was a multitude of comments thanking her for sharing her expertise with loss of democracy in Hungary and Poland, and for drawing specific lessons and offering specifi...

Dahlia Lithwick aptly characterizes the face-off between the president and the Supreme Court as King Kong versus Godzilla. The Imperial Presidency locks horns with the Imperial Court while Americans look on and worry about what they’re going to smash next.

Not only is Dahlia a superb, longtime observer of the Supreme Court, who can put its trends in context for us and help us understand what the six near unanimous decisions this mo...

This video is what happens when you get a Georgian and an Alabamian together for straight talk about democracy. Stacey Abrams is one of the most honest and profound voices in American politics. I left our conversation concerned, moved, motivated, and uplifted. She’s just that good—she does all the things.

If you missed us live, click above to listen to the recording.

Stacey has just started her own Substack, Assembly Notes, and her f...

Thank you, and many others, for tuning in to my live video this evening with The Brennan Center! I asked Brennan Center President Michael Waldman to join us tonight because so many of you have written to ask me questions about how Trump gets away with violating the Emoluments Clause, and Michael has just written a smart piece taking on that issue. (You can sign up for the Brennan Center’s newsletter here to see his future pieces, a...

On Tuesday mornings, Preet Bharara, my former U.S. Attorney colleague, and I tape the Cafe Insider Podcast. We discuss legal issues and court cases, examining them from all angles to make sure we understand them, instead of slipping into an easy, results-oriented analysis. It’s a good check for me, forcing me to be thoughtful and do my homework before weighing in, and of course, I love listening to Preet, bad dad jokes and all.

This...

Thanks to those of you who joined Preet Bharara and me last night for his first-ever Substack Live. I was happy he kept the dad jokes to a minimum, but if you were with us, you know we’re that oddball combination of cornball and serious when we get going. This week, Preet brings his Stay Tuned podcast and the rest of the community to Substack.

We live in times that require serious contemplation, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have f...

If you missed University of Michigan Law Professor Leah Litman joining me for Substack Live tonight, lucky you, you can still catch us on video! Leah is delightful—she’s great at combining fun and laughter with serious talk about the law and our institutions. We discussed today’s decision in the Alien Enemies Act case, the state of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, and Leah’s book, Lawless, which is com...

Thanks to everyone who joined us tonight for our conversation about the rule of law and democracy. Were we nerdy? Yes. Did Katie swear? Yes (but appropriately so). If you’ve ever wondered what we talk about behind the scenes, this is what it’s like. If you’ve ever wanted to go to law school, or if you miss law school, or if you just love the law, this one is for you!

From the birthright citizenship case that is headed to the Supreme...

Thanks so much to everyone who joined tonight. I seem to have continued my winning streak of truly awful photos for the start of a Substack live—you never know exactly when it’s going to kick in. But I hope our conversation more than makes up for that. If you missed us live, listen to it now by clicking on the picture above.

If you don’t already have the Substack App and want to be ready to join in for future live chats—I have some ...

Thank you Valerie Monroe, Carl Selfe, Rod Hemsell, Caro Henry, Sharon Hom, and many others for tuning into my Substack Live tonight with Marc Elias! While Marc and I were chatting before we got started, he was worried no one would show up. Then, 7,000 of you joined us live tonight!

If you missed out, you can watch the video by clicking on the arrow up above to listen to Marc’s excellent explanation of the ongoing litigation over th...

Thank you Jeff Tiedrich, Valerie Monroe, Katie Kibbe, Sara Garcia, Iulia Huiu, and many others for tuning into my live video with Steve Vladeck!

Steve and I had a fascinating conversation about the Alien Enemy Act, the courts, and the state of our democracy. A little sarcasm and a little bit of puppy talk too. If you missed us live, you can still catch it here.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

Last night, I joined Joe Trippi, an old Alabama hand better known for his role in national races, along with Lincoln’s Stuart Stevens for a wide-ranging chat about the political moment we are in. If you missed it, you can see the video by clicking up above.

Among the most important questions people asked afterward: yes, that is my knitting, that I forgot to remove from the credenza, in the background, and no, Elsa, our new puppy, d...

Thank you Andrew Weissman for joining me in today’s livestream. [That’s a classically bad screen catch of the two of us up above!]

We had a great time reminiscing about our work together at the Justice Department, discussing my forthcoming book, Giving Up is Unforgivable, and explaining why we still believe in the rule of law. We also talked about our love for our pups, Innis, Bella, and Elsa.

If you missed us live, you can still wat...