Host of SideBar
Mitchel Winick is President and Dean of the nonprofit law school system that includes Monterey College of Law, San Luis Obispo College of Law, Kern County College of Law, and Empire College of Law. An outspoken advocate for greater access to the legal system and the legal profession, he is also the former co-host of the nationally syndicated radio program, Wagner & Winick On The Law and is co-author and editor of three books on law office management and ethics.
A graduate of the University of Houston Law Center, Winick previously served as an Assistant Attorney General of Texas, Executive Director of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, and Assistant Dean of Texas Tech University School of Law. A believer that there are many interesting things that can be done with a law degree, prior to returning to legal academia, Winick served as senior consultant in a management consulting firm and partner in a venture capital firm.
Seasons one and two of SideBar featured discussions with authors, lawyers, and academics discussing challenges to our individual constitutional and civil rights. Each of our episodes ended with our featured guests providing...
SideBar guest Chris Hearsey has spent over ten years working in international space collaborations, space exploration technologies, and other aerospace applications. His work has contributed to advancements in space law, policy, and...
Was 2024 a “historic” presidential election? Constitutional historians Lawrence Goldstone and Madiba K. Dennie join Jackie Gardina and Mitch Winick to discuss the context, concerns, and questions following the recent re-election of...
Since colonial days, the legal profession has been proud of its role in the founding of the republic, the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, and the defense of democracy and the rule...
Stephen Bright made it his life’s work to unleash social change by representing unpopular clients–namely those on death row. Remarkably, he succeeded, winning all four cases he argued before the Supreme Court....
David Noll and Jon Michaels, authors of Vigilante Nation, discuss the reemergence of state-supported vigilantism. Noll and Michaels explain the vigilante methods, from anti-abortion bounties to book bans to the January 6...
Like all discretionary authority, the pardon power is only as virtuous as the person who controls it. Kimberly Wehle, author of the new book, Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works –...
Berkeley Law Dean, author of No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States asks the provocative question – is it time to consider drafting a new constitution? Is it...
In the last several years, there have been a wave of anti-LGBTQ laws passed across the country and ACLU is tracking 547 new bills in the 2024 legislative session. Robbie Kaplan and...
Award-winning author and historian Lawrence Goldstone explains why what the Constitution does not say – was intentional – so that democracy can evolve. According to Goldstone, author of “Imperfect Union: How Errors...
Over the past year, the Supreme Court has taken a far more active role in reviewing cases reflecting fringe arguments supported by federal district court judges and appellate circuits. The Western and...
Nisha Anand, the Chief Executive Officer of Dream.org, joins SideBar to discuss how she builds bridges across political divides to find real solutions. Nisha employs the “radical act of finding common ground”...
Senior CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig challenges whether the rule of law is under attack when powerful people square off against judges and juries. As author of Untouchable: How Powerful People Get...
Kathy Spillar, Executive Director of Feminist Majority Foundation and Executive Editor of MS Magazine joins SideBar to discuss why ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is an essential legal tool to...
Madiba K. Dennie is an attorney, columnist, author, and professor whose work focuses on fostering an equitable multiracial democracy. Dennie is the author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution...
Since the Dobbs Supreme Court case was decided, we have gained a heightened awareness of the criminal laws surrounding pregnancies, including the decision to terminate one. But the criminalization of abortion isn’t...
Law Professor Mary Sarah Bilder discusses the amazing story of Eliza Harriot, a rare female public lecturer who delivered a University of Pennsylvania program attended by George Washington as he met in...
Law Professors Joy Milligan and Bertrall Ross discuss how we should interpret a Constitution that was not written for or drafted by “We the People”. The original constitution excluded women and racial...
Since the mid to late 1980s, an increasingly conservative federal bench has made it more difficult to defend Indian rights under existing treaties and federal law. John Echohawk is an attorney and...
The federal constitution neither explicitly nor implicitly includes the right to vote. Instead, the framers allowed the States to determine the “Time, Places, and Manner of holding Elections.” Rick Hasen, author of...
Federal judges have lifetime tenure with little to no oversight. Despite employing thousands of new law school graduates as law clerks, they aren’t subject to anti-discrimination or other workplace laws. How is...
Access to an ethically based justice system not only protects free and fair elections, but also impacts the rights that affect our everyday lives. In this episode of SideBar, Professor and Author...
Appellate courts decide what our laws mean and how they affect all aspects of our personal lives: our ability to vote, how we are policed, our religious freedom, the quality of our...
SideBar cohosts and law deans Jackie Gardina and Mitch Winick look back over the 29 episodes and 25 guests featured in SideBar’s incredibly successful first season. If you have been a listener,...
David Pepper, author of Saving Democracy: A User’s Manual for Every American, returns to SideBar to sound the alarm that democracy remains under attack. Although there were shocking lowlights in 2023, David...
Disinformation and deepfakes, accelerated by AI, pose an existential threat to our democracy and elections, and as a country, we are simply not ready says The California Institute for Technology and Democracy...
Before killing George Floyd, Officer Devin Chauvin had at least 18 misconduct complaints lodged against him. Despite this history, Chauvin was elevated to training new officers. How could this happen? UCLA Law...
The COVID pandemic exposed weaknesses in our public health system and exposed the lack of trust in science and government. The change in the Supreme Court’s interpretation of public health law has...
Professor Jeff Kosseff, author of “Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation” examines and defends constitutional protection for false speech. “It’s the listener and the reader...
Nationally recognized immigration law expert, Professor Cesar García Hernández of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law talks about the intersection of criminal and immigration law, including the rights of migrants in...
Professor and Dean Emerita Lisa Kloppenberg, author of The Best Beloved Thing is Justice: The Life of Dorothy Wright Nelson, discusses her mentor, colleague, and friend. Judge Nelson was a true trailblazer...
Supreme Court Correspondent Nina Totenberg discusses her fifty-year career as a reporter covering some of the most important Supreme Court decisions of our time. As a front-row witness to history, with unique...
Professor Stephen Vladeck, author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic, discusses how the Supreme...
Professor Julie Suk, author of After Misogyny: How the Law Fails Women and What to Do About It, discusses the legal and economic framework in the United States that fails to fairly recognize...
After 200 years of racial and ethnic struggle, including the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Era, and Black Lives Matter, where are we now in the effort to achieve the promise...
Damon T. Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, discusses Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina and the Supreme Court’s...
Dr. Thaddeus Johnson, former police officer, Senior Fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, and Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University, discusses his research and unique insights...
Professors Morgan Hazelton and Rachael Hinkle have published a fascinating book on one of the mysteries behind Supreme Court decision-making. “Persuading the Supreme Court: The Significance of Briefs in Judicial Decision-Making” combines...
Nicole Clark, lawyer, entrepreneur, and CEO of Trellis, discusses how the award-winning technology start-up she founded is democratizing access to the law by making state trial court records more accessible and bringing...
The indomitable, outspoken, brilliant, and thoughtful Elie Mystal, author, columnist, and commentator, joins cohosts Jackie Gardina and Mitch Winick to discuss his book Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to...
Judge Margaret McKeown discusses her new book Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas and her research on the Supreme Court Justice’s controversial approach to advocacy both on and off...
Law Professor Nomi Stolzenberg discusses the US Supreme Court’s consideration of Conservative Christian ideology as a new protected class under the First Amendment. Seven of the nine members of the Supreme Court...
Professor Charles Geyh, an expert in judicial conduct, discusses the ethical obligations of judges and the options available (or not) when judges break the rules – including the U.S. Supreme Court justices....
Professor Joel Rogers describes the rise of American Legislative Council (ALEC), the organization responsible drafting model bills introduced across the country with devastating impacts upon public education, voting rights, and environmental protections,...
In this SideBar episode, California Assemblymember, Buffy Wicks discusses the power of state legislatures to protect fundamental constitutional rights and the importance of diverse representation.
In this episode of SideBar, Suzanne Nossel, the Chief Executive Officer of PenAmerica, discusses the dangers of book bans and educational gag orders to our core democratic values. She places these laws...
Can we harness AI to enhance equality?
Legitimacy of the Supreme Court and the Important Role Lawyers Play in Our Society
Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America
The New Weapon in the Culture Wars
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