Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

We've talked about the underlying reasons that Black and Brown people have been hit disproportionately hard by this pandemic. But what can we do about it? On Today's Show:Mary Bassett, director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, as well as professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, talks about how to fight the disparate impact in who gets sick, and who dies, from COVID-19.

On Today's Show:Former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg discusses his book, the election, and how the new Supreme Court could affect same-sex marriages like his.

It's the final countdown to election day, just 8 days away, and the Trump administration has signaled that it's done trying to contain the pandemic. The election, the pandemic, and today's Senate vote on Amy Coney Barrett, Trump's pick for the Supreme Court. On Today's Show:Amber Phillips, reporter for The Washington Post's The Fix, discusses the latest in politics, polls, COVID and SCOTUS, and takes your calls.

Possible parallels between post-election 2020 and the uncertainty caused by Florida's recount in 2000? Plus, how Trump's racism actively hurts people of color. On Today's Show:Donna Brazile, Fox New analyst, former Democratic National Committee chair and author of Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House (Hachette, 2017), offers analysis of last night's debate between Pres. Trump and his Democratic challenger, former vice president Joe Biden. Plus her lessons from the contested 2000 election.

Democrats boycotted a Senate Judiciary Committee vote to move Amy Coney Barrett's SCOTUS nomination for a full floor vote. So how are Democrats thinking about the future of the court? On Today's Show:U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D CT), member of the Foreign Relations committee and author of the forthcoming The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy (Random House, 2020), talks about the latest federal response to the public health and economic crisis, plus election security and the status of the Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination.

New rules mean that at Thursday's presidential debate, there won't be as much interrupting as the first one. So what should we expect? On Today's Show:Susan Glasser, staff writer for The New Yorker, CNN global affairs analyst and co-author, with Peter Baker, of The Man Who Ran Washington: the Life and Times of Jim Baker III (Doubleday, 2020), talks about the latest national political news.

Trump's Justice Department is fighting in court to end affirmative action in college admissions. So what's behind the argument that this policy meant to address racial bias is, in fact, racist? On Today's Show:Erwin Chemerinsky, professor and dean of Berkeley Law, and the author of several books, including We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century (Picador Macmillan, 2018) and Jami Floyd, senior editor for race & justice at WNYC, talk about affirmative action as an issue in the presidential race - where Joe Biden stands on it as the Trump administration sues Yale over its use of race in admissions. Plus, Chemerinsky weighs in on affirmative action in his state, California, where it is currently banned but is on the ballot for voters this year as Prop 16 asks whether it should be allowed again.

The two candidates have different ideas of what law and order means. In terms of handling protests, police reform, white supremacy & white collar crime, where do Trump and Biden stand? On Today's Show:Inimai Chettiar, federal legislative and policy director for the Justice Action Network, and Jeffrey Butts, professor and director of the Research and Evaluation Center at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice, discuss the Trump administration's "law and order" policies and rhetoric as they relate to the 2020 presidential election. 

It's a pretty atypical election year, which means that things won't look like they usually do when you cast your ballot. But how can we spot voter suppression this pandemic election? On Today's Show:With voting underway around the country, Franita Tolson, law professor at USC specializing in election law, talks about some of the early challenges, from long lines to too few or unauthorized drop-boxes.

With Election Day less than a month away, the Senate began hearings into Trump's nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. On the line: Roe v. Wade, LGBTQ+ rights, the Affordable Care Act, and more. On Today's Show:Amanda Becker, Washington correspondent for The 19th, talks about the latest national political news, as Washington's eyes are trained on the Amy Coney Barrett hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.