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Of all the lawsuits fought and won daily against the Trump administration, there was recently a profound moment of reckoning for free speech and a free press that got far too little attention when the litigation ended with a settlement. The victory in that case showed that Trumpism can be made to capitulate to the power of journalism and the rule of law. On this week’s Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick spoke to Ilyse Hogue, the co-founder and CEO of Catalyst for American Futures and a senior fellow at New America, about Media Matters’ victory in a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission for an investigation connected to a dispute between the site and Donald Trump hanger-on Elon Musk. Hogue is also a co-founder of the Speaking With American Men project, and she spent nearly a decade as president and CEO of NARAL–Pro Choice America. Her 2020 book and podcast The Lie That Binds remains one of the most important guidebooks about the far-right takeover of the courts and the machinery of government. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Dahlia Lithwick: You have worked as an adviser with Media Matters for a very long time, and the organization just secured a big, big win, settling a case that went all the way to a federal appeals court in D.C. Can you tell us what the lawsuit was about and maybe describe for me why this lawsuit—in a frothing sea of lawsuits filed against the Trump administration—serves as a bellwether for you on issues of free........