Amped Up Joe’s State of the Union (Guest: Barbara McQuade)



The general election campaign for President is officially underway…

  • Scranton Joe delivers a take-no-prisoners State of the Union that leaves his supporters ecstatic and Republicans sputtering.
  • Spoiler alert: the 2024 Campaign theme is a sequel movie “This Country for Old Men”
  • Super Tuesday was a good day for former athletes who want to be Senators: one-time NFL star Colin Allred wins the Democratic nomination to run against Ted Cruz; in California, Michigan State University alum and All-Star baseball player Steve Garvey survives the jungle primary, setting him up to lose to Congressman Adam Schiff.
    And it was a great day for Jason Palmer who, just like Mike Bloomberg in 2020, swept to victory in the American Samoa caucus.
  • The Supreme Court effectively decides the 14th amendment prohibiting insurrectionists from seeking federal office is just a suggestion.
  • More turmoil at Michigan State University: as a new president takes over in East Lansing, two trustees face the possibility of being fired and a third could be censured — the aftermath of the firing of football coach Mel Tucker.

Our guest this week is University of Michigan professor, former U.S. Attorney and MSNBC contributor Barbara McQuade discussing her new book which amplifies the alarm about the role of misinformation in the 2024 campaign as well as the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Trump ballot access case.

McQuade served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017. As part of President Donald Trump’s 2017 dismissal of U.S. attorneys, she stepped down in March 2017. She is a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, the author of Attack from Within and a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office, McQuade practiced law at the firm of Butzel Long in Detroit and served as a law clerk for Hon. Bernard A. Friedman on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. McQuade started her career as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan from 1998 until becoming U.S. Attorney in that same district. She was also a professor of law at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law from 2003 to 2009.

McQuade was appointed by President Barack Obama and started her term as U.S. Attorney on January 4, 2010. Upon taking office in January 2010, During her tenure as U.S. Attorney, the office reached convictions in several high-profile cases, including the case of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on public corruption charges; the conviction and life sentence of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be al-Qaeda shoe-bomber behind the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot to destroy an airplane in flight from the Netherlands to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; the conviction of former Michigan Supreme Court justice Diane Hathaway on bank fraud charges; and the convictions of former employees for stealing trade secrets from Detroit automakers.

In 2017, McQuade became a regular contributor to MSNBC, initially commenting primarily on purported scandals related to President Donald Trump, though the range of topics she analyzes has become broader over time. Since 2021, she also co-hosts the #SistersInLaw podcast with Jill Wine-Banks, Joyce Vance and Kimberly Atkins Stohr.

McQuade was born in Detroit. She received her undergraduate degree in 1987 from the University of Michigan and her J.D. in 1991 from the University of Michigan Law School.

Video: Highlights of President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address (via Politico)

===========================

This episode is sponsored in part by EPIC ▪ MRA, 
a full service survey research firm with expertise in:
• Public Opinion Surveys
• Market Research Studies
• Live Telephone Surveys
• On-Line and Automated Surveys
• Focus Group Research
• Bond Proposals – Millage Campaigns
Political Campaigns & Consulting
Ballot Proposals – Issue Advocacy Research
Community – Media Relations
Issue – Image Management
Database Development & List Management

===========================