August 3, 2020: Portland Protests, Constitutional Law

If you have never listened to the podcast What Trump Can Teach Us about Con Law, (that's Constitutional Law), you might want to start with a segment here. The podcast is a lot of fun, and it discusses our president's most outrageous moves (and his tweets) in terms of the Constitution.  The latest episode is about the Supreme Court term just ended, and it ends with a discussion of the Constitution and the Portland Protests, starting at about 32 minutes and 53 seconds in.  (You can move the slider to get there.)

I can tell you all day that the big problem was the feds, that unwanted federal law enforcement made everything worse, that the area of the worst conflict was just a few blocks and that all of Portland was not aflame. And I can express my own belief that the whole debacle was meant to create videos that the bad guys will be using in campaign spots to scare people into thinking that Law and Order are in danger. And I can tell you that people I know and love were down at the protests, and I have heard from them directly. But it's pretty wonderful to hear Roman Mars and Professor Elizabeth Joh talk about how shocking it all has been. 

Spoiler, and bad news: Some of the stuff the feds did - throwing folks in unmarked vans, not identifying themselves, etc. - isn't unconstitutional. It violates a whole lot of societal norms, but it isn't illegal. Bummer.