American Democracy

Your Legal Rights

“Today, our nation and world are at an inflection point,” Mary Smith, President of the American Bar Association, said. “At home and around the globe, autocrats and dictators threaten the rule of law. Our democracy is under strain." At the start of her presidential term in August 2023, ABA President Smith created the Task Force for American Democracy. The deans from more than 100 of America’s top law schools wrote a letter in support, concerning the training necessary for the next generation of lawyers to sustain our constitutional democracy and the rule of law. “The nation's law schools play a critical role in training the next generation of lawyers and upholding the core values of our profession,” remarked Heather K. Gerken, Yale Law School dean and member of the task force. “Through our joint efforts as outlined in [the] letter, we hope to set an example for our students as we prepare them to carry our democracy forward.”What forces are at play that threaten democracy in America, and throughout the world? Are they taking hold? Here?Tonight, YLR Host, Jeff Hayden, is joined by Task Force member Maria Echaveste, a former U.S. presidential advisor to President Bill Clinton and White House Deputy Chief of Staff during the second Clinton Administration, and Brent Turner, a graduate of Lincoln Law School in San Francisco who was instrumental in the creation of the San Francisco County Voting Systems Task Force and who has been a Director of Communications for Open Voting…