During the 2024 presidential campaign, experts across the political spectrum called Donald Trump a danger to democracy. On the eve of a second Trump administration, what are we to make of these warnings? Was it just campaign rhetoric, or is American democracy in real danger? Following the inauguration, a slate of new laws take effect — involving guns, social media, hands-free driving, immigration, crime, and gender policy. What will this mean under a Trump presidency? In a crucial conversation on the state of US law and democracy, don’t miss a group of brilliant experts on the latest legal developments in a new America — and what ordinary citizens can do to stay informed and engaged in upholding our democracy.
Join CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates, former US Attorney Preet Bharara, and NYU Law Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law Melissa Murray on US law, democracy, and the legal ramifications of a new Trump administration.
This program is produced in partnership with the 92nd Street Y.
Laura Coates
Chief Legal Analyst, CNN
Laura Coates is CNN’s chief legal analyst and anchor of Laura Coates Live, airing weeknights at 11pmET. The show showcases the day’s most interesting stories with smart, provocative, and thoughtful analysis, while leveraging Coates’ significant experience as a prosecutor and relentless pursuit of the facts. At the intersection between law, politics and pop culture, the high energy show takes the news viewers have already heard and helps them to truly understand it.
Emmy nominated Coates joined CNN in 2016 and plays a central role in the network’s extensive legal programming, as well as having a prominent role in major news moments, including CNN’s coverage of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the January 6th hearings and the two impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump, hosting a special entitled White House in Crisis: The Impeachment Inquiry. She routinely covers high-profile criminal prosecutions, including the trial of Alex Murdaugh and former police officer Derek Chauvin.
Coates is also the host of the award-winning daily “The Laura Coates Show” on SiriusXM’s bipartisan P.O.T.U.S. channel where she interviews world leaders and politicians from both sides of the aisle and engages the audience with a lively discussion on the intersection of politics and the law.
Coates has authored two books, You Have the Right: A Constitutional Guide to Policing the Police and New York Times bestseller Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight For Fairness.
A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Coates graduated from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and the University of Minnesota Law School, where she serves on the Board of Advisors, before beginning her legal career in private practice. She practiced law in Minnesota and New York handling cases ranging from intellectual property litigation and First Amendment issues to defamation and media law. Called to public service, she transitioned from private practice to the United States Department of Justice, thriving as a federal prosecutor. She served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice during the Bush and Obama administrations, specializing in the enforcement of voting rights throughout the country. She also served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, prosecuting a myriad of violent felony offenses including drug trafficking, armed offenses, domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault.
Preet Bharara
Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Preet Bharara, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), is a renowned and highly regarded lawyer who is currently a partner at the law firm WilmerHale, focusing on strategic counseling, crisis management, and investigations. Dubbed “one of the most consequential prosecutors in American history” by The New Yorker, Mr. Bharara led some of the most significant criminal and civil litigations brought in the SDNY on behalf of the United States, leaving an indelible impact on the office. He is widely recognized as one of the most effective and transformative US Attorneys to ever lead the SDNY and one of the most credible voices in law enforcement. In May 2009, President Obama nominated Mr. Bharara to become the US Attorney for the SDNY, with Mr. Bharara’s nomination unanimously confirmed by the US Senate in August 2009. While serving as US Attorney from 2009 to 2017—one of the longest-serving appointments in the history of the SDNY—he oversaw more than 200 Assistant US Attorneys, who handled cases involving civil rights violations, cybercrime, domestic and international terrorism, financial fraud, gang violence, narcotics and arms trafficking, organized crime, and public corruption. With Mr. Bharara at the helm, the SDNY saw one of its most productive periods in its history. Before serving as US Attorney, Mr. Bharara was Chief Counsel to Senator Charles Schumer, the current US Senate Majority Leader. Mr. Bharara is an author, a frequent public speaker, and a much-valued voice in the national dialogue. He is a distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the New York University School of Law, and regularly speaks to corporations, legal associations and trade groups on ethics and compliance, culture and diversity issues. He wrote a New York Times best-seller titled Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law. Mr. Bharara also shares his perspectives as host of the “Stay Tuned with Preet” and “CAFE Insider” podcasts on the Vox Media Podcast Network. In 2012, Mr. Bharara was featured on the cover of TIME magazine and appeared on its list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.”
Melissa Murray
NYU Law Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law
Murray is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar and an Echols Scholar, and Yale Law School, where she was notes development editor of the Yale Law Journal. While in law school, she earned special recognition as an NAACP-LDF/Shearman & Sterling Scholar and was a semifinalist of Morris Tyler Moot Court.
Following law school, Murray clerked for Sonia Sotomayor, then of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Stefan Underhill of the US District Court for the District of Connecticut. Murray is a member of the New York bar.
Murray teaches constitutional law, family law, criminal law, and reproductive rights and justice, among other courses. Murray’s research focuses on the legal regulation of sex and sexuality and encompasses such topics as marriage and its alternatives, the marriage equality debate, the legal recognition of caregiving, and reproductive rights and justice. Her publications have appeared (or are forthcoming) in the California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal, among others. She is an author of Cases on Reproductive Rights and Justice, the first casebook to cover the field of reproductive rights and justice. She has translated her scholarly writing for more popular audiences by publishing in the New York Times, Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, Vanity Fair, and the Huffington Post, and has offered commentary for numerous media outlets, including NPR, MSNBC, and PBS.
In 2013, Murray’s article, “What’s So New About the New Illegitimacy?,” was awarded the Dukeminier Awards’ Michael Cunningham Prize as one of the best sexual orientation and gender identity law review articles of 2012. Her article, “Marriage as Punishment,” won the Association of American Law Schools’ 2010-2011 Scholarly Papers Competition for faculty members with fewer than five years of law teaching. “Marriage as Punishment” was also selected by the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Women in Legal Education as a winner of the 2010-2011 New Voices in Gender Studies scholarly paper competition. In 2010, Murray was awarded the Association of American Law School’s Derrick A. Bell Award, which is given to a junior faculty member who has made an extraordinary contribution to legal education, the legal system, or social justice. In 2011, Murray was elected to the membership of the American Law Institute.
Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Murray was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she was the recipient of the Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. From March 2016 to June 2017, she served as interim dean of the Berkeley Law.
Andrew Weissmann
Co-host of Main Justice, legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and Professor of Law NYU
Andrew Weissmann is the co-host of MSNBC’s award-winning podcast Main Justice, with Mary McCord, and is a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Main Justice has more than 23 million downloads, was named Adweek’s Political podcast of the year, won two 2024 Webby Awards for the Best Crime & Justice Podcast, and the Signal Award for 2024 Listener’s Choice Limited Series & Specials News & Politics.
Weissmann is Professor of Practice at New York University School of Law. Andrew served as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office (2017-19) and as Chief of the Fraud Section in the Department of Justice (2015-2019). From 2011 to 2013, Weissmann served as the General Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He serves on the board of Just Security and writes frequently for it, The New York Times, The Atlantic, & The Washington Post. His books Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation and The Trump Indictments were New York Times Best Sellers. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and attended the University of Geneva on a Fulbright Fellowship.