Mary McCord, executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law School, joined Jen to talk about the First Amendment and the government’s duty to be truthful in judicial proceedings.
“The federal government is bound by the First Amendment. It cannot discriminate based on viewpoint,” Mary said. “The fact that the FCC chair would be suggesting that ABC might lose its broadcast license if it doesn’t take action against Jimmy Kimmel, that is direct coercion by the federal government that is related to speech.”
Jen and Mary also discussed the threats inherent in the Trump administration’s failure to be truthful in its judicial proceedings.
“It pains me, as someone who spent almost five years” at the Department of Justice, Mary Said, “that their reputation has just fallen so far because of all these misrepresentations, and if I were there, I would be very, very worried about my bar license and my professional responsibility obligations.”
Mary McCord is the Executive Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) at Georgetown University Law Center. McCord was the Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2016 to 2017 and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security from 2014 to 2016. Previously, McCord was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for nearly 20 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
