A tale of two RICOs (feat. Josie Duffy Rice)
A tale of two RICOs (feat. Josie Duffy Rice)
Mother of mercy!
Atlanta: Home of Coca-Cola, Jermaine Dupri, and the country’s most open-ended racketeering law. Two very different cases of national importance are headed to trial under Georgia’s version of the RICO Act. One of course involves Donald Trump and eighteen allies for their attempt to steal the 2020 election. The other targets more than sixty activists who tried to stop the construction of a $90 million police tactical training center in a forest outside Atlanta, a project the protesters have indelibly nicknamed “Cop City.”
As I tried to think through these very different cases — and what they say about the law and American criminal justice in general — I couldn’t think of anyone better to talk to than Josie Duffy Rice. A journalist and graduate of Harvard Law School, Duffy Rice is the host of the podcast UnReformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, and a legal commentator who has appeared everywhere from the New Yorker to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. We talk about activism, free speech, the mob, and laws as tools for both justice and revenge. It’s a great, and I think enlightening conversation, and I hope you enjoy. (There’s also an automatically generated transcript available on the website.)
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A tale of two RICOs (feat. Josie Duffy Rice)
This was a great show. As an attorney it's useful to discuss these things especially if considering any type of reform. I think the one thing that stands out to me is the difference between the two prosecutions is there is fairly cogent argument to be made that the Trump prosecution is based on acts and speech specifically for the purpose of subverting a legal election, whereas the Cop City prosecution is based on citizens using their freedom of speech as it was intended, to protest. The Trump prosecution is not intended to chill speech or the election process, but the Cop City prosecution is very much intended to chill and quell freedom of speech. Of course, there are outliers in the Cop City case but those illegals acts in those situations can be prosecuted individually. I'm not sure there is a sufficient way to prosecute the Trump camp without alleging a conspiracy. That's just my take. But very much enjoyed the podcast, thanks.