Social movements are often centered around the law: who it protects and who it does not. And as you heard in this week's headlines, we also find ourselves in an era of increasing weaponized “lawfare” by MAGA and its allies. On top of the "antifa" domestic terror case in Texas, there have been other recent attempts by the federal government to criminalize dissent, from the RICO cases against Atlanta’s Stop Cop City movement, to more recent charges against protestors in Minnesota this winter. Legal representation for these cases and others is necessary as the systems of power which marginalize these communities in the first place seek to criminalize our work toward liberation.

This is the work of “movement lawyering.” Movement lawyering is when attorneys and other legal professionals align their work with the values and politics of movements for liberation. Our guests this week recently published a guide and handbook for legal professionals and organizers alike. We were recently joined by the coauthors and coeditors of Lawyering for Liberation: A Tool Box for Movement Lawyers. They are movement attorney Ameca Reali and Associate Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law, Marbré Stahly-Butts.

We discuss the work lawyers need to do to bring their work and values into alignment with liberation movements, as well as how organizers can think about how to work closely with legal professionals who share their goals.

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