Defending Democracy with Marc Elias
Every week, election lawyer Marc Elias interviews lawmakers, policy leaders and changemakers about the problems facing our democracy and how we fix them.
Episodes
January 8, 2026 • 49 mins
Journalist and political commentator Molly Jong-Fast joins Marc Elias to discuss Trump’s declining political power, the myth of a governing mandate, and the growing backlash heading into the 2026 midterm elections. They examine corporate and billionaire collaboration with Trumpism, the retreat of Big Law, escalating voter suppression and election subversion, DOJ efforts to access voter files, and the legal fight to protect voting r...
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January 6, 2026 • 52 mins
Supreme Court expert and Amicus podcast host Dahlia Lithwick joins Marc Elias to unpack one of the most dangerous and least understood forces shaping American law today: the Supreme Court’s shadow docket. Lithwick explains how the Court increasingly uses late-night, unsigned emergency orders to upend lower-court rulings, reverse longstanding precedent, and reshape democracy—without transparency, reasoning, or accountability. Togeth...
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January 3, 2026 • 37 mins
Voting rights attorney Marc Elias warns that the Trump Department of Justice is aggressively seeking access to Americans’ most sensitive voter data—including Social Security numbers, party affiliation, voting history, and signatures—by suing more than 20 states. Elias explains why this unprecedented data grab is central to a broader strategy of voter suppression, election subversion, and litigation designed to undermine free and fa...
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December 31, 2025 • 45 mins
Former Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord joins Marc Elias to deliver a sobering, inside-the-Justice-Department assessment of how political pressure is corroding DOJ norms, judicial trust, and prosecutorial ethics. Drawing on decades as a federal prosecutor and current work at Georgetown Law, McCord explains the collapse of the presumption of regularity, the rise of misrepresentations to courts, and the dangers of politi...
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December 29, 2025 • 40 mins
David Pakman joins Marc Elias to break down the most dangerous and overlooked trends of Donald Trump’s second term, from public desensitization and media failure to economic backlash, immigration cruelty, and rising threats to democratic norms. Pakman explains why economic pain—not attacks on democracy—is driving voter shifts, how Latino voters moved right in 2024 and may already be swinging back, and why legacy media has struggled...
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December 27, 2025 • 38 mins
Senator Cory Booker sits down with Marc Elias to discuss the real and growing threats to American democracy. Booker explains why economic insecurity, extreme inequality, and normalized corruption are not just policy failures but existential dangers to democratic stability. He warns that rising costs, collapsing trust in institutions, authoritarian abuses of power, and the politics of cruelty are driving cynicism and disengagement—a...
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December 22, 2025 • 52 mins
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker joins Marc Elias for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about governing through constant crisis and confronting the growing threat to American democracy. Pritzker reflects on balancing Illinois’ budget, leading through COVID, responding to the migrant crisis, and pushing back against what he describes as Donald Trump’s authoritarian tactics—from ICE and CBP raids in Chicago to attacks on civil liberti...
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December 20, 2025 • 24 mins
A surprising legal principle from conservative Supreme Court gun cases could help restore the right to vote as a first-class constitutional right. Drawing on his experience arguing his fifth case before the SCOTUS, Marc Elias shows how voting has been wrongly treated as a second-class right—subject to balancing tests and state convenience—while other rights receive strict protection, and argues that the Constitution, history, and m...
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December 16, 2025 • 47 mins
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse joins Marc Elias for a sweeping conversation on the state of American democracy—from the tragedy at Brown University to the urgent fight against Supreme Court capture, dark money, and fossil fuel influence. Whitehouse breaks down how billionaire interests engineered a “captured court,” why voting rights and environmental regulation are under attack, and what real Supreme Court reform must look like.Support i...
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December 15, 2025 • 42 mins
Harvard Law Professor Nicholas Bowie joins Marc Elias to unpack how the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is dismantling decades of voting rights, campaign finance law, and congressional authority.
From the Voting Rights Act to campaign finance reform, from Reconstruction to modern-day “history and tradition” tests, this conversation explores why SCOTUS is no longer exercising judicial restraint—but judicial supremacy.
Suppor...
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December 10, 2025 • 34 mins
Marc Elias explains the Voter Suppression Iceberg — a breakdown of the tactics, laws, and strategies that Republicans are using to restrict voting access in the United States. Marc breaks down everything from surface-level policies most voters recognize, down to the lesser-known, deep-cut mechanisms that influence elections behind the scenes.
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December 6, 2025 • 51 mins
Marc Elias sits down with Faiz Shakir, founder of More Perfect Union and former campaign manager for Bernie Sanders, for a deep dive into the future of Democratic messaging, media, and grassroots organizing. Faiz breaks down three core elements of constructive, pro-worker populism, how political organizing is empowering Americans to advocate for workplace justice, and how independent media is stepping into the vacuum left by legacy...
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December 5, 2025 • 46 mins
Harvard professor and global expert on democratic breakdown Steven Levitsky joins Marc Elias to assess where the United States stands in 2025—and whether we’ve crossed the line into authoritarianism.
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December 3, 2025 • 48 mins
Democracy in America is facing a defining test — and Eddie Glaude breaks down the one threat we must confront if we want the country to endure. In this powerful conversation with Marc Elias, Eddie explains how political polarization, racial injustice, and concentrated power have created a crisis point in the history of America — and what ordinary people can do to reclaim democratic institutions and legal equality before it’s too la...
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November 29, 2025 • 38 mins
In this video, voting rights attorney Marc Elias breaks down 7 urgent reforms every blue state must pass before 2026 (plus a bonus). These are real, actionable policies that protect the right to vote, stop ballot rejection, and make democracy actually work for every voter.
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November 26, 2025 • 21 mins
Sen. Ruben Gallego joins Marc Elias for an in-depth conversation on the future of American democracy, Latino political power, and why Democrats win when they focus on the economy and authenticity—not manufactured political personas.
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November 24, 2025 • 51 mins
Never-Trumper and former Republican George Conway joins Marc Elias to unpack why Donald Trump is both an “addled old man” and a dangerous threat to democracy. They also break down Democratic momentum in key elections — and Conway reveals whether he’s considering running for Congress.
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November 21, 2025 • 35 mins
Texas Republicans just suffered a major legal defeat — and now they’re panicking. After their gerrymandered redistricting scheme collapsed in court, a dissenting judge went off the rails, name-dropping Marc Elias and pushing conspiracy-style attacks instead of legal arguments.
In this video, Marc explains why the GOP lost, what made their map unconstitutional, and how these wild attacks on voting rights lawyers expose the weakness...
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November 17, 2025 • 43 mins
Brian Tyler Cohen joins Marc Elias to highlight the Democrats in who are fighting back against Trump’s attacks on democracy, from the battle in Congress over the Epstein files to the frontline legal and political fights of Trump’s second term. This conversation breaks down the leaders, strategies, and momentum driving Democrats forward in 2026 and beyond.
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November 14, 2025 • 31 mins
Rep. Robert Garcia joins Marc Elias to unpack the latest revelations from the Epstein Files: emails linking Donald Trump to victims in the Jeffrey Epstein case; the bipartisan discharge petition in Congress that could force full public release of the files; and how Democrats outmaneuvered the GOP to keep the investigation on track.
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