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In this episode of Sekulow, we delve into President Trump’s latest announcement on a significant trade deal with the United Kingdom, marking a pivotal victory in the ongoing trade wars. The agreement aims to revise non-tariff barriers and uplift the agricultural sector, promising a brighter future for American farmers. Our hosts, joined by experts in the field, dissect what this deal entails and how it represents a key moment in redefining global trade paradigms. Beyond trade, we bring attention to an important legal battle unfolding on the home front. In Massachusetts, pro-life centers face a controversial state-led campaign aimed
SPEAKER 04 :
We got breaking news. President Trump announces his biggest trade war win.
SPEAKER 05 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Sekulow Pact Show today. We got my brother Jordan Sekulow joining us, Harry Hutchins joining us, and as always, Will Haynes in the studio with me as well. We’re going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. And of course, we’ve got the breaking news coming out this morning. President Trump announced… that the biggest trade deal so far, and probably one of the biggest successes, honestly, of the Trump presidency so far, is the new trade deal with the United Kingdom. Now, this comes on the heels of all of the chaos that broke out over the tariffs of the trade war, and now we will see an updated version of what that deal looks like, including automobiles and everything that comes from the UK, as we are one of their top competitors. uh you know exporters and importers i think they said they’re fourth uh in the world so it’s at this is a big win you should take it as a big win hopefully things to come we’ve seen that now even happen where he said there’s gonna be discussions this week in china or for china with china uh as they move towards hopefully trade deals across the country
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right. So the meetings will take place in Geneva with China. But this deal that was announced by President Trump, and he had the prime minister of England, of the United Kingdom on the phone, and they announced what is a strategic framework. This is a big win. This is really the first big win ever. of this entire trade war, as they like to claim it, but really the president trying to bring back fairness in the way that we conduct global trade. And what’s interesting about this, Logan, and we’ll get more into it with Professor Hutchison in the next segment, is that much of the things that they’re agreeing to aren’t necessarily about tariffs. It’s about the non tariff barriers to each other’s market. So things like the agriculture that we send to the United Kingdom. So this will be a great, great thing for American farmers for agriculture sector, as we look for the final details, but the fact that they have agreed to it is fantastic. And we’re going to get more into the details of that in the next segment.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. I also want to tell you and remind you all to say a prayer for our team. Right now, as we speak there in court in Massachusetts, you’ve heard my story of how this whole thing began. I was just strolling the streets of Boston and came upon these ad campaigns that said, avoid anti-abortion centers. And we did some deep diving. It wasn’t coming from some sort of organization. It was coming from the state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That is what was happening. So we decided to fight back, not just in the court, but also with our counter campaign. So the counter campaign has been running for months. We’ve seen big success, but they’ve also seen success as 30% of visits to pro-life pregnancy centers have dropped and 30% of abortions have risen. But there’s a picture right now. If you’re watching, you can see a photo. uh of and photos in sort of some of the big areas in boston where we created this hopeful campaign that’s been running but right now we are in court and today is it it’s a critical hearing in our lawsuit they want the case thrown out they don’t think we have standing and you know what if they succeed it’s not over there are so many steps that we can go obviously we pray for our victory here If we don’t get it, though, again, we don’t stop here. There’s more. There’s appeals. There’s a lot of different things you can do. So right now, I’m going to encourage you to not only say a prayer for the work of the ACLJ, say a prayer for our team that’s in there right now. This case could have huge ramifications nationwide. We know more states will try to employ this type of campaign against these pro-life pregnancy centers. And look, I’ve worked with them directly. These are the sweetest, kindest people. These are genuine people. Many of who are volunteers, they provide often not just ultrasounds and prenatal care, but you’re talking about people who provide often. I mean, we had one person call in and say that they threw a birthday party, their first birthday party for their child. Okay. They’re giving them food. They’ll have clothes day where you go and you pick out all the clothes that you want or could need. These are wonderful people who are under attack by their own state. And we’re there for them right now. And again, you may go, I’m not Massachusetts. Why does it matter? It matters because Because they’re going to move it to every state, especially states that are more pro-choice leaning and are certainly more liberal. So they will bring it to try to shut down once and for all these pro-life pregnancy resource centers. Again, you may remember them as crisis pregnancy centers. But just like we’ve changed some of our branding and the way we talk to people about life, so have they. And that’s okay. We need to do that. We need to reach the next generation. That’s how we do it right now. Go to ACLJ.org to support. We’ll be right back with Harry Hutchinson. Welcome back to Seculo. Professor Harry Hutchinson is joining us, one of our senior attorneys here, but also someone who could really break down what’s going on as President Trump lands this landmark deal with the United Kingdom. Of course, that happened just this morning as there is a new tariff deal that’s happening right now. Let’s break down some of that. Will, you can kind of set up what happened. There was big tease last night. Hey, it’s coming. I texted Will. I said, I think we got our lead topic. President Trump says, I got a big announcement. It started to kind of trickle out, started to leak out what was going to be. And here we are.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right, and this does appear to be what the president was referencing the other day, that either Thursday, Friday, or Monday he would announce a big something about some topic that people will be talking about. This appears to be that tease that he gave us earlier in the week. And what we have is a framework for a deal between the United States and the United Kingdom. We know that the UK had lots of… Tariffs levied upon them as other countries did as well at the beginning of this trade war. As people want to categorize it, I more think it’s a resetting of global trade is maybe a better way to look at it. Professor, when you look at this, we just have a framework, but we see that it will really benefit the U.S. agriculture sector. Also, some of the automotive tariffs as well as building material tariffs that were placed upon British products will come down as a result of this. And it looks like it’s not only a good thing for the trade between the United States and the United Kingdom, but it potentially gives a roadmap for other countries. We know that South Korea, India, Japan, they’re teasing are all imminent deals, but that it could give a roadmap how other countries could come to the table of the United States and successfully get to a deal.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think you’re precisely correct. And your last point, I think, is spot on. I think it’s very important for the United States to develop a pattern for dealmaking in this arena. That’s number one. Number two, as the United States puts together a roadmap for for future deals, this will settle the economic markets, it will settle the financial markets, and I also think this is an opportunity for Donald Trump to deliver once again without driving up prices in the United States. So essentially the United Kingdom will reduce non-tariff trade barriers on U.S. exports, including agricultural products, automobile products, and aircraft engines. The agreement will allow American products to be fast-tracked through the customs process in Great Britain. I think the only sticking point that I see going forward is the fact that with respect to agricultural products, agricultural products will have to comply with UK food standards. And that’s important.
SPEAKER 04 :
We got to break in for a second. Worldwide news right now. White smoke has appeared. That means a new pope has been chosen. Pretty quick process. Only a day and a half. Again, I know this isn’t the number one story for a lot of our listeners, but I do think it’s important. An important moment in time. You need to obviously share when that happens. But white smoke signals the Pope has been chosen after just about a day of deliberation. Those joining us on YouTube, welcome. I know we had some technical issues. Seems to be something I have to say every day now. We had some technical issues on YouTube. I’m going to ask you because it needs to get back into more people’s feeds. Throw in that little thumbs up if you’ve already subscribed. Throw in a comment. That’s really going to help make sure people actually get to see this show as we monitor these issues we’re having continually, it seems like, with YouTube. But we’re working on it. But again, a lot of comments. They wanted the smoke. They got the smoke. White smoke has appeared. at the Vatican signaling a new pope. But, Will, we can segue back into what we were talking about. You should call in. 1-800-684-3110. I’m excited to see who it’s going to be.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right. But, Professor Hutchison, I know that you are eager to get into conclave analysis, but I think we’ll stick with the trade issues with you for now. But another interesting aspect of this is, one, these were non-tariff barriers to entry to the markets, whether it be how they process things coming through, things that slowed down or created larger headaches or issues for American products to be sold in the UK. So not only is it something that… A lot of times tariffs lower the demand, but this was lowering demand just for some of the red tape and issues of getting American goods into the United Kingdom. But once again, we also talked about how before the show, the Fed chair yesterday, Jerome status quo for another period of time. There was some talk that they didn’t see really maybe even an opportunity for this to shift in this entire year. You mentioned that England actually lowered their rates yesterday, their central bank, but this could be a good sign if this deal and more deals follow through that there is a positive outlook to the central bank on the U.S. economy and therefore could put us in a much stronger position going forward.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think you’re precisely correct. So Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, has been reluctant to lower interest rates in the United States in part due to trade uncertainty. That’s number one. Number two, he feared that tariffs would do what? Raise inflation rates in the United States. So he wanted to keep interest rates high. But I think this particular deal with the United Kingdom signals that Donald Trump is serious about negotiating what? Agreements. So going forward, I forecast – and don’t make any financial decisions based on this information – Going forward, interest rates in the United States will indeed fall. And despite what Jerome Powell has done, mortgage rates in the United States have already fallen. So mortgage rates are likely to come down even further as people anticipate lower inflation rates. And so that’s important news for the American people.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s hopefully a good sign for everyone. I know that, look, we can’t forecast one way or the other, but I think that will hopefully give a big relief to people. There’s a lot of people right now who would move, who would sell, who would do it, but just can’t. I would put myself even in that space. There are times where we’ve thought, oh, my wife and I are like, okay, we’ve been in our house for X number of years, 10 plus years. Let’s see what else out there. And right now, it’s not even necessarily only the fact that the prices have gone up. It’s The percentage, your mortgage rate is just so killer that your payment, you could have lived in the same house and my payment would quadruple.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s absolutely a fact. And so one of our neighbors would like to sell his house, but he has a 2.5% interest mortgage. And so if he buys another house, again, his mortgage rates or his basic outlay per month will double, even though they would love to move. So I think a lot of people are stuck. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, then it halts inventory being available for people who want to move, for people that want to come in. It really starts almost changing the demographics of what’s happening and the geographics that are happening within your own community. But right now, I think when you see a moment like this where the UK does a deal, hopefully that means more are to come. Like you said, President Trump meeting with people who are not necessarily his best friends, have not been his biggest supporters, will show he will sit down with these countries and have these tough negotiations and get it done. The UK is a good sign because, look, we all spent a lot of time there. I think there’s a lot of people just like America on both sides of the fence there that see why they need to have a good relationship with us. You may see the sort of loud vocal left, if you will, coming from the UK, and sure, it definitely exists. But from my time there, there are a lot of people who see the US as a vital part of their economy.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. And I think another positive signal was President Trump’s meeting with Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister recently. Even though Mark Carney has said some pretty harsh things about Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is happy to meet with Lord Mandelson, who is the UK ambassador. The UK ambassador, Mandelson, has said some very harsh and negative things about Trump. But Donald Trump, I think, is prepared to negotiate with anyone who will cut a deal in American interest.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Well, thank you, Professor Hutchinson, for joining us today. Always great to have your feedback. Again, I did want to reiterate, there has been white smoke and the bells are ringing signifying a new pope has been elected. We will find out who that is probably later today, I would bet. that maybe that would come out. They make some announcements. We’ll talk about that. But also, my brother Jordan Sekulow is joining us because there’s some big news in the work of the ACLJ at the Supreme Court. You’re going to want to hear about it coming up. So stay tuned. If you want to call in, it’s a great time to do it. We had some technical glitches. They’re still kind of happening here and there, but we encourage you to still support And you can do that right now by giving me a call at 1-800-684-3110. We got a few lines open, so it’s a perfect time to call. 1-800-684-3110. Once again, pray for our team as they are in court today in Massachusetts. Could be a big day. for our case for life, our case for these pro-life pregnancy resource centers that need your help and they certainly need your prayers. So I encourage you to go to aclj.org, share your support, put it in the comments even, put that you’re praying. If you are praying, if you’re praying people, put that in the comments. We’ll make sure to share it with our legal team who is there right now doing this incredible work. We’ll be right back with my brother Jordan Sekulow and more coming up in just a little bit. welcome back to seculo my brother jordan seculo is joining us right now executive director of the aclj and we’re going to talk about some of the new cases and some of the updates that are going on in our cases at the supreme court and in other courts throughout the country but we also want to break in of course with that news that white smoke and bells are ringing at the vatican there is a new pope we’ll see who that will be maybe a little bit later today maybe he’ll come out and have a
SPEAKER 03 :
uh you know some pomp and circumstance we’ll see what happens though uh but we want to make sure that you guys were at least updated what’s going on live right now it has political ramifications and of course the religious implications but it has worldwide implications on world uh world events uh conflicts and of course the direction of one of the uh largest denominations in the world so uh again the selection whether or not you’re catholic or not is very important and worthwhile of taking notice as we get more information.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. But originally, that’s not why you were coming in here. I know that our listeners, some of them care about this. A lot of them go, okay, move on. We want to hear what’s going on. So what’s going on?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, so next week, we’re going to be at the U.S. Supreme Court. May 15th is the oral argument involving the case that we are working on alongside the state of West Virginia. I’ll be there with Attorney General Kemp. J.B. McCuskey at the U.S. Supreme Court. We’re going to send some of our media team up. So we’ll be at the oral argument and then we’ll be able to give our kind of input into what we saw, what we heard. This is a case with huge ramifications, of course. It’s these district court judges issuing these nationwide injunctions. It’s affected over 100 of President Trump’s executive orders. This is the first case to make it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. So as people have kind of, I think, been wondering, I said this last week, what has the ACLJ been doing on this front? Here we go. This is round one in this battle against what is now we’re seeing an out of control judiciary. We’ve seen an out of control federal unelected bureaucracy before. Now we see the out of control judiciary. I mean, Logan, we’ve got a case today. It’s ongoing in Massachusetts. This is a case where we filed alongside a pregnancy resource center against the governor, the health commissioner, and an abortion advocacy group. You’ve talked a lot about this. The defendants here that we filed lawsuits against coordinated an unconstitutional smear campaign against pro-life pregnancy centers using taxpayer dollars and partnering with pro-abortion organizations to only share their viewpoint and effectively try to shut down the pro-life groups.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right, and we’re in court today. I mean, it has been a year-long almost battle to just get to this point, but it is a major point. And look, they’re trying to get it dismissed, but we know that even if that happens, that this is not the end. The ACLJ team continues on. This is not the end of that. Even if they say, hey, we’re dismissing it, we move on to the next options.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. The next option are the Court of Appeals and ultimately, if you need to, the U.S. Supreme Court. So this case, again, it took a year to get there, but it’s in its early legal stages. And I think what’s important here is not just pro-life speech, but all speech that could be shut down by a government and say, you know what, we’re only going to fund one side of the issue. Yeah. Think about that. Think about how divisive that could be if your local government or your state government could say, we’re going to pick sides in arguments. We’re going to pick sides in political debates and use taxpayer money to only push one side.
SPEAKER 04 :
We’ve heard from so many people in Massachusetts. A lot of them are Democrats. They’re people that vote Democrat in Massachusetts, but they’re pro-life. A lot of them are very Catholic. They are pro-life people. So they don’t want to see, even if they’re Democrats, sure, they voted for a Democrat. That doesn’t mean that they want…
SPEAKER 03 :
Their taxpayer dollars going to fund a campaign to shut down what are peaceful pro-life pregnancy centers that give women another option if they don’t want to choose abortion to make sure they know there are other options on the table, giving birth, adoption, all of these things, and actually providing resources after.
SPEAKER 04 :
food and clothing and we had one pairing them to be moms one person call in said they threw them their first birthday party for their child these are like sweet volunteer a lot of times people that are being shut down by their own state uh and it by the way it was working uh we know that we saw their numbers were dropping people were not going and they were scared 30 percent of people were drop in it people going to these pro-life pregnancy ads were calling them dangerous yes
SPEAKER 03 :
They were saying it was dangerous to go there. That’s why we’re filing the lawsuit saying this is, again, this was an unlawful, illegal smear campaign. So, I mean, this is, again, to use this against an organization that has to exist. I mean, it’s nonprofit, but they have to pay their bills. And you’re trying to tell people that wrongfully that they are dangerous if you go there, that you’re risking your life if you go there. Look for words like hope. Yeah, that’s what it says.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, Jordan, this is something that we even brought up earlier this week is that this should be a case when you look at it from the Constitution, from the First Amendment and this discrimination from the government and viewpoint discrimination specifically, that you should have groups like the ACLU. rushing to join you on but because it’s this abortion distortion factor they won’t because there’s this article from just a few weeks ago in the new york times botched care and tired staff planned parenthood in crisis and it talks about failed abortions inadequately trained staff all kind of the things they accuse the pro-life resource centers of being the danger can you imagine if florida ran the same campaign in reverse, say, don’t visit Planned Parenthood. It’s a fake clinic because people aren’t adequately trained.
SPEAKER 03 :
Planned Parenthood would have multi-million dollar lawsuits against the state of Florida and against the taxpayers of the state of Florida.
SPEAKER 06 :
But instead, they sue Florida saying you have to keep giving them taxpayer dollars. These aren’t taxpayer-funded pregnancy resource centers. Instead, they are taxpayer-attacked centers. resource centers and clinics. And that’s really why when you take away the issue of it, even that it’s about pro-life issues or abortion, the law of it should be very clear to either side of like, yeah, the taxpayer money shouldn’t be used by the government to attack a side of an issue.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, exactly. I mean, this is a divisive issue. The government knows that in Massachusetts. They decided to not only pick sides as politicians, which they can do as politicians, but they decided to use taxpayer dollars to coordinate a smear campaign against our client simply because they are offering an alternative to abortion to those who are looking for alternatives to abortions. They do not want people to have the actual choice to know that they could have their child have economic issues taken care of or assisted with, or put that child up for adoption, that there’s a number of different options other than abortion. They don’t want people to even consider that, so they want to shut these groups down. That’s what we’re in court about today.
SPEAKER 06 :
It affects your broader First Amendment rights as well. And we do know that our team and we appreciate everyone that has been praying for our team. They just got out of court. We’ll hopefully have some sort of update here soon. Two hour hearing. Lots of details. Our attorney, Olivia, was up there for a solid hour going back and forth with the judge on this. So the attorney that I texted with did say the judge was fair. that it was a very good but robust hearing. But we will hopefully have more details to share with you soon. But thank you for your support and prayers for this issue.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I’m praying for that judge right now because there could be a decision coming any moment. There’s also the decision, they said, any moment now the announcement of the new pope is coming. All right. So we’ll make sure if we’re still on the air that we’ll cover that. We do have a second half hour coming up on the broadcast. I want you to join us right now. If you don’t get us on your own local radio station, you can find us broadcasting live, aclj.org. We’re on Rumble. We’re on YouTube. You can find us on Facebook, any social media platforms. Then later on, available as a podcast, however you get your podcasts, or on YouTube as well. But again, phone lines are open. We’ve got about four lines open. Good time to call, 1-800-684-3110. But you can obviously support the work of the ACLJ podcast Jordan just broke down all the important stuff that we’re, not all of them, just a small sample of the important work that we’re doing right now. And you can go to ACLJ.org. You can make a donation. We know we’d appreciate that. But also just go to the website. Click around. Look at all the incredible free resources we provide. Nothing is behind a paywall. Everything is available to you at absolutely no cost. Again, we have a second half hour of this broadcast coming up. If you want to make sure you don’t miss it, again, any moment, we know there’ll be an announcement of a new pope, and we’re going to get an update, hopefully, from our attorneys in Massachusetts as they’ve just wrapped up that robust hearing. We’ll be right back with more on Sekulow. Less than a minute break coming at you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. Second half hour of the show coming up. We got a packed show as well. Like I said, my brother joined Sekulow. Sitting in with us right now, Will Haynes in the studio. And of course, we’re going to take your calls and comments as the show progresses. 1-800-684-3110. Right now, the processional has begun to announce the new pope. At Vatican City, you can see there is starting to be some movement. There’s almost a parade of sorts happening. We will keep you updated as they announce who this new pope is. They said the new pope is about to greet the crowd from the balcony. So at any minute, big news, everybody. Big news, new pope.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is big news. It has big ramifications for what goes on around the world and also kind of the style of the Catholic Church, which was going in one direction in the previous pope, a different direction in the previous pope. We’ll see where this one is. And I think there were a few different options on the table for the church to go maybe further left or go back to the center, maybe even right.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, let’s take a quick call real quick, then we’ll get back to that. Scott’s calling. He’s one of the people very excited about this. Scott, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, I just wanted to thank you all. I’m Catholic. I used to be evangelical, but I converted or reverted to Catholicism. So I really thank you for mentioning the Pope, and I also appreciate your program. I try to catch it often, and it’s probably one of the more insightful programs out there on analysis of what’s going on. So I really appreciate what you all have done.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you so much, Scott. We’re always going to keep you updated on the latest news, whether that’s in the ACLJ world or what’s going on on the world stage. Because, Jordan, as you said, it has global ramifications. It’s not just a religious ramification. But let’s talk about what else is going on. There’s more happening for the ACLJ and our team this week.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. So today they are in court in Massachusetts. Tomorrow they’ll be in court in Ohio. Criminal case. So we are representing a criminal defendant. This is Zach Knotts. He is a pro-life advocate, was cited for disorderly conduct during a peaceful protest outside of an abortion center in Ohio. He used a small battery-powered megaphone, which was legal within the… space and the distance he was using and also based off other ordinances for instance the citation the criminal citation was based on a noise ordinance that actually exempts certain groups like educational and religious organizations but doesn’t exempt I guess, pro-life organizations, though they could certainly fall under either of those definitions, both as educational, because they educate on the abortion issue, and oftentimes religious, because they’re often tied to religious groups, these protesters and organizations. So this is a criminal case the ACLJ is defending in Ohio, in criminal court, which gives you the example. We do the cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. We do the cases in federal court against the government of Massachusetts. And here we are defending a criminal defendant in a pro-life speech case that affects all of us because it affects these ordinances and whether or not you can exclude some people from the ordinance and not exclude everyone. And so this is, again, Ohio State Court Criminal Court. doing the criminal case uh to keep trying to keep someone out of prison uh then of course we’re doing the federal court case uh the pro-life uh again uh massachusetts going after the pro-life pregnancy centers and they’ll be at the supreme court on thursday yeah so when we talk about the resources needed the aclj it’s not just hey we got to put on a show hey we got to have lawyer staff you got to pay for travel you got to pay for everyone to go that is all and that’s a lot of record systems a lot of different plane tickets I mean, if we’re being honest. And different focus areas. I mean, it’s very different to go into a state criminal court proceeding and fight an issue there and a violation, a citation, than it is to go into a federal district court hearing for a couple of hours on a First Amendment issue. And then it’s even a bigger issue to go into the U.S. Supreme Court. So all three of those just underscore different ways the ACLJ is involved in just a matter of two weeks.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. And look, we’re going to continue on and take some more of your phone calls coming up at 1-800-684-3110. We’re going to talk a little bit more about the trade deal that was announced. I know some of you were just joining us right now and you may want to know what we’re talking about. You may have seen the headline. That was that President Trump announced a big trade war win. This is with the United Kingdom. And as of right this second, probably as we’re headed to break now, we’re about to find out who will be the next Pope. So when we get back, we’ll make sure we cover that and give you all the news. This is a very quick and short break. Put in your comment, let me know where you’re watching from. I always like to see that when we’re in these breaks. I always like to know because we have a worldwide reach, thankfully, because of people like you who watch on social media or watch on YouTube. We’re able to reach the entire planet, really. It’s really amazing. So right now, give us a call, 1-800-684-3110, and continue to support the work of the ACLJ. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. We are waiting as the new Pope is about to emerge for those of our Catholic listeners and those who are just interested in what’s going on in the global world stage. As my brother said, it does have political impact. It does have religious impacts. We want to make sure that we are staying focused on that as well. Not only was there the white smoke just a few minutes ago, they have started the processional, the parade, and the new Pope will emerge any moment. We do want to, though, keep our attention here in the United States of America. Well, as Chief Justice John Roberts said, uh was being interviewed yesterday i think we got to explain what this was you don’t usually see this you’ve seen it more in the modern era uh used to be that you never saw really interviews with supreme court justices they were a bit um secretive if you will they were like you’d only see if they were doing a book tour or something of that nature that was like very selective and rare that’s right so this was the 125th
SPEAKER 06 :
anniversary celebration of a court in New York. So this was in Buffalo, New York. It was 125th anniversary of this court, the U.S. District Court there. And so they had a fireside chat with the Chief Justice. So very nice of him to oblige. He was not in robes in his suit. And one of the judges there was kind of leading this conversation with the Chief Justice. But obviously, the elephant in the room is the kind of tension between the courts right now, especially the lower courts and the president with all of the nationwide injunctions, something that, as Jordan mentioned, he will be in D.C. with our client, the state of West Virginia and their attorney general, J.B. McCuskey, next week. And So that’s kind of what obviously everyone’s going to want to ask the Chief Justice about. And he gave a couple statements. And when you put them side by side, it’s very interesting the choices that the Chief Justice is making here. So I’m going to play this first one. And this is about the independence of the court and why this is so important. And then I’m going to play his other statement, which which kind of undercuts his argument about the independence of the court. So first, let’s play bite one. And this is the chief justice talking about the co-equal branches and the separation of powers and the independence of the court. Bite one.
SPEAKER 09 :
In our Constitution, judges and the judiciary is a co-equal branch of government separate from the others with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down obviously acts of Congress or acts of the president. And that innovation doesn’t work if it’s not The judiciary is not independent. Its job is to obviously decide cases, but in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or of the executive, and that does require a degree of independence.
SPEAKER 06 :
And that is a very accurate statement. That was just what, yesterday? That’s right, last night. That is precisely the role of the courts. It is a co-equal branch of government. They do not have the same powers, but they have co-equal authority, and they serve as checks and balances on one another. That’s why there’s a lifetime appointment for these judges. That’s right. So it doesn’t just swing with the political tide. But that’s why Congress establishes and can add to the courts as needed. The court themselves doesn’t create new courts. That’s why there’s all of these things. That’s why there’s confirmation of judges. So there is oversight and the president appoints. So they all… keep checks on each other. But we understand this. This is basic civics. But he’s arguing we need independence. We don’t need effectively saying the executive branch or Congress really speaking in to what our powers are. They need to make the laws. They need to execute the laws. And we need to judge the laws. But Then he was asked about the cause of impeachment by some members of Congress, maybe even the president, and how he responded to it. To me, a little bit undercuts his- This is the same interview? Same interview, different portion of it. This is bite 14. You’ll hear the judge that was having this fireside chat with the chief justice, and then the chief justice himself respond, bite 14.
SPEAKER 08 :
What do you think of these calls for impeachment of judges based on the decisions that they’ve made?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I’ve already spoken to that. And impeachment is not how you register disagreement with decisions. That’s what you’re for, right? That’s what you’re there for. That’s what we’re there for.
SPEAKER 06 :
So what he’s referencing is that if you disagree with a decision, you appeal that decision. And ultimately, the disagreement can land at the Supreme Court of the United States. So there’s nothing wrong with that line. That is a truly accurate statement that if in the course of a case you lose, you have the option to appeal. Now, it doesn’t necessarily mean the Supreme Court will take it. But what I find interesting about this is that If he were truly wanting to set an example for Congress and the president, instead of saying that impeachment, that’s not how you register disagreements through impeachment. And I’ve already spoken on that. He could have just said impeachment. under the Constitution is a power of Congress. And therefore, I’m not going to speak to impeachment. But we do have a constitutional framework of how to deal with that through the judicial system. That is the appellate process leading up to the Supreme Court. That is not what he said. The fact that he is… basically saying that is not how you register disagreement. Impeachment’s a political process. That’s what we’re here for. We’ve learned that. We have learned that through the last four, five, six years that impeachment is a political process. And there aren’t necessarily limitations other than high crimes and misdemeanors, which can be interpreted very vaguely by the Congress.
SPEAKER 04 :
You really just have to have enough votes.
SPEAKER 06 :
At the end of the day, you have to have enough votes. There’s not an oversight from the court of impeachment. It is a political trial. And so the judicial branch weighing in on saying that’s not how you use impeachment undercuts his argument of independence. Because if the judiciary has to have independence, Congress has to have the independence to make the laws, write the laws with the oversight after the fact. But if he were starting to get involved and say, Congress, you shouldn’t write this law. Or if Congress were to maybe put forward a law limiting national injunctions, which is very much in the works, and he were to start speaking out on the legislation, that once again would him not giving Congress the independence to move that way. That’s where… If you’re going to be the leader and you’re going to stand for this and talk about the independence, you can’t in the same interview also start to criticize what is a constitutionally enumerated power of another co-equal branch.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Hey, we’re going to take your phone calls in the next segment at 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. I got a lot of great comments coming in as well on YouTube and on Rumble. We’ll try to take some of those as we head into a break here in just a minute. Well, we need to tell people, though, it’s an important day for the ACLJ.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right. As we have already mentioned, we were in court in Massachusetts this morning fighting to keep that lawsuit alive there where we are suing the state on behalf of a pregnancy resource center, a state and an abortion advocate organization that were going after pregnancy resource centers with a smear campaign and where we are looking at is that the many times too and we just got this update that a judge could rule on a motion to dismiss immediately they could hear from both sides and you don’t know when you’re in the northeast in massachusetts a traditionally more liberal state if you’re going to get a judge that is uh friendly to your argument when it’s a pro-life issue that’s just kind of the facts but What we’re looking at is this was a two-hour hearing. Our attorney went back and forth with the judge for over an hour. And they said the judge was fair. The questioning was solid. And we know that he is not ruling from the bench saying this case is dismissed. But it does seem there is… There’s not just a binary choice here of either motion dismissed, granted, kicked out of court, or it moves forward. Sometimes the judge can offer something that is the opportunity to amend your complaint. When you file a lawsuit, you list out the reasons for your suit, the justifications for your suit, and things of that nature. Sometimes a judge may have like, ah, most of this, I would let the merits of this move forward. Thank you. But this one I’m not so sure about. They offer the opportunity for an amended complaint. Sometimes that comes after the motion to dismiss or before. But it sounds like that could be the path that this is moving forward and that we look at it is that this case very well could continue in this court. That’s the big thing. It’s a big early win that we will need to continue fighting back against this campaign against pro-life resources.
SPEAKER 04 :
We found out that this case is still alive as we’re speaking right now. Now, look, even if it is dismissed, that’s not the end. We appeal it. We can take it all the way to Supreme Court. So trust me, that’s not the end. But of course, it’d be great if they would just accept it. But we have at least a judge that seems like he’s coming in at a fair in a fair way. We appreciate their, you know, in your prayers, your support. We’re going to take some calls coming up in the next segment. I know we’ve had a few of them on hold for a while. We’re going to get to you and you can call in as well at 1-800-684-3110. Also, any moment. There should be a new pope that will emerge from the Vatican balcony. They have had all the pomp and circumstance happening the last 15 minutes or so. And then we will find out who it will be. I don’t know why I keep looking up to the screen thinking I’m going to recognize even who this pope will be. It’s not like it is a celebrity.
SPEAKER 06 :
You don’t have the trading cards, Logan?
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s not like I will know who. I’m like, they picked that one. Other than Pizza Ball. That’s the only one. But do you know what he looks like? No, but hopefully they have a lower third graphic. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Sekula. We are going to take your phone calls right now. Coming up at 1-800-684-3110. You still have time to get your voice on the air. We got a couple lines open, so it’s a good time to call in. Again, at 1-800-684-3110. Let’s go ahead and take Helen, who is calling about our pro-life battles. Helen in Arizona, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hi there. Yeah, I didn’t hear the whole comment, but what caught my attention is something about the abortion industry is threatening those that are assisting. Pro-life. Sure.
SPEAKER 04 :
You can restate what we were talking about here, Helen, and we’re happy to do that. There have been a lot of different pro-life activities in the ACLJ world. You would have thought that with the overturning of Roe, and a lot of you probably do think, oh, well, that’s it. It’s over. You know, we’re moving on. And we’ve actually seen that somewhat in the numbers where people don’t understand that these fights continue. But not only in Massachusetts, but around the country, there’s a lot of these moments happening. I’m not sure specifically you’re talking about our Massachusetts case or that other one, but we should probably go over a little bit of both.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Yes. So I’ll take the Ohio case and then I’ll let you talk about the Massachusetts case. But tomorrow we will actually be in court in Ohio.
SPEAKER 04 :
Today in court in Massachusetts.
SPEAKER 06 :
Tomorrow in Ohio. But in Ohio, there is a pro-life advocate. that was speaking out against abortion in front of an abortion clinic. This is a classic ACLJ case of protecting the First Amendment rights of someone wanting to protest the practice of abortion and try to show a different way. And he was arrested. It was under a noise ordinance. It was incited with disorderly conduct. But what we’re fighting here in this case also is the way that this was applied to him, this law. One, the law does have some exemptions for outdoor concerts and things and religious activities. But here, they never measured the volume of this. And they were trying to say that it was at a certain level. But the police arrested him. And meanwhile… on this disorderly conduct, there were people in support of the clinic that got out and were making a huge scene using kazoos, trying to drown out his speech. And they were not spoken to at all about their conduct and how they were trying to drown out the the sound of this pro-life advocate and even the the street noise the cars were louder than the speech of this individual so we are fighting it we see that they he was targeted for his speech and arrested incited because he is pro-life and so we are fighting there in a criminal trial where he we are having to defend him against charges
SPEAKER 04 :
uh for this disorderly conduct and so pray for our team there tomorrow is a fight for his rights and try to clear his name in ohio yeah and helen obviously the one the big one that we were talking about today is we were in court after uh really and i first discovered this last summer in july was walking around boston massachusetts and saw those ads and said we got to do something about it that pro that they were going after pro-life pregnancy resource centers and we thought this can’t be this way. This is not, this shouldn’t be legal that they could go after these businesses. A lot of them run by sweet people who are just wanting to help, just want to give people other options. So we did a two pronged effort, a counter campaign in the media, which we obviously could just pay for the space. And we’re able to do that. And we worked with our team in Massachusetts at our local Massachusetts affiliate, even for the radio station there that covers our show. And they really were helpful. And we were able to get the ad campaign running and And that’s because of people like you that support the ACLJ. It’s not an ACLJ ad campaign. It is actually an ad campaign for those pro-life pregnancy resource centers that our team put together. Now we decided to take it to court as well. And today we just found out our case, at least right now, is alive. after the judge at least seemed to have a fair and very robust hearing. Hours and hours of discussion. So we’ll keep you updated on that. But the fight for life, Helen, continues. The fight for life continues around the country. It is not over yet, and it certainly will not be probably in our lifetime. So we have to make sure we are always still staying on the front lines of that when needed. We obviously are still focused also on what’s going on at the Vatican as a new pope has been picked. Now, some of you have said, why do we care? Why is that comment coming in? Some of you are Catholic listeners. Some of you are not. Of course, there is global impact and honestly, a bit of a bellwether of where the world is going, especially the church is going based on sort of the political landscape of who this pope is. We’ll let you know if that happens while we’re still on the air. Ken’s calling in Colorado. On line three, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 07 :
Gentlemen, I want to reiterate my admiration of your robust stance on this soulless abortion thing that still goes on. We’re so murderous as a country when there’s other options. So the next time you guys have like a double your money thing, you can count on my contribution.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Ken. We don’t have to wait for that, but I understand that it’ll be a couple months until we get to roll that back out. And we just wrapped up our life at Liberty Drive. I want to thank everybody, but continue with your comments.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, originally I called about the tariff thing, and I wanted to comment on that other thing, but the tariff and the Pope. The tariff thing, I’m glad to see that coming along. Everybody loves to kind of hate Trump, and it was a system that really wasn’t working for us. Still, it’s a system in place. So let’s, now that we’re in this global marketplace that gradually evolved. A key thing was, you know, when say Nixon was in office opening up trade with China, we need to have these global markets in our favor. And Trump is doing just that.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re absolutely right. And I think I don’t mean to cut you off. We just run out of time. I think what people still don’t seem to understand, Will, is that all of this is a big negotiation tactic that President Trump had put in those tariffs to get people to the table, to get these countries to the table, to work out deals that are going to benefit everybody.
SPEAKER 06 :
And regardless if you like his style, if you like how he initiated it, if anyone believes that the status quo of American trade policy is sustainable, when you look at even China, who there is the very real possibility that there is some sort of aggression, conflict, military or diplomatic conflict, in the short term, in the next five, 10 years, and you think it’s okay that we’re so heavily reliant on them for our pharmaceuticals, for our manufacturing, for that, and you see the imbalance of trade around the world, if you think that is sustainable, then I don’t know what to tell you. That is not a world of reality. And so whether people like his tactics or not, something had to be done. The disruptor is here. And what I hope is that there will be Democrats that see positive movement from like this, with this deal with the UK, that can jump on board instead of going out and preaching every single day. President Trump has cratered our economy, is going to ruin us, and just try to make some sense of it and say, yeah, we’re on board with trying to get good deals with other countries. That would be so refreshing because you can’t get rid of the disruptor now that he’s here if you’re a Democrat. So try to find a way to make sure that the American people are the beneficiaries of a better world trade system.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Well, we’ll see. We have 50 seconds left. I want to encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ while you’re at it. Our incredible legal team just got out of court in Massachusetts, and now another group of legal teams, some of the same, will be headed to be in court tomorrow, and then they’ll be in court next week, and the week after that, and the week after that, and the week after that. This team works 365 days a year. They are not taking breaks. They work 24 hours a day, and I mean it. You’re expected to be on call at any time. Our team is always there for you and for the American people and for Christians around the world. So I encourage you, if you can, support the work of the ACLJ by going to ACLJ.org. Become a champion if you can. And we will be back tomorrow with more on Sekulow. And again, we’ll keep you updated on the latest breaking news. Just go to ACLJ.org or download the ACLJ app.
