Lawful Assembly

About Lawful Assembly

The Lawful Assembly podcast teams up two divergent activists, a Secular Humanist Political Activist with an immigration lawyer and an ordained clergy to dissect politics, important legal issues facing the United States, and the role of religion in our political and legal landscapes. Its challenging conversation combines a bit of humor with lamentations over injustices, combined with equal measures of pragmatic cynicism and faith-filled hope. Engage with us as we navigate through the complexities of governance and justice, examining how beliefs and law intersect in the shaping of society. Lawful Assembly is more than just a podcast; it's a community dedicated to celebrating the power of people gathering together to inspire further understanding and activism where law, ethics, and compassion meet seeking the common good. Tune in, and be part of the conversation that ignites minds and hearts alike.

Publisher

Cecil Cicirello and Craig Mousin

Category

news · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Jan 2024

Latest episode

31 Jan 2025

Latest episodes

59 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   31 Jan 2025

   Farewell... A Final Episode

   This is our final episode. The demands of creating the show are much greater than its reach, so we are focusing our energies to do good in other ways and leaving the podcast behind. We are grateful to all our listeners, and to all the people who commented and contacted us. We thank you for letting us be part of your lives for the last year. Carry on and fight the good fight. Here are the shownotes to this week's episode: SHOW NOTES States of Washington, Illinois, Arizona, and Oregon’s Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order, January 21, 2025:  https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/10_TROMot.pdf?VersionId=eWXZfvZtw60HmNTPOMluCKS_Li3n1Tu8 David Guttman, “Judge in Seattle blocks Trump order on birthright citizenship nationwide,” January 23, 2025, The Seattle Times, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/judge-in-seattle-blocks-trump-order-on-birthright-citizenship-nationwide/ Matthew J. Vaeth, Acting Director, Office of Management and Budget, “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs” January 27, 2025: https://blog.researchadmin.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/omb-memo-1-27.pdf National Immigration Project, Community Explainer: Laken Riley Act, January 27, 2025: https://nipnlg.org/work/resources/community-explainer-laken-riley-act Martin Niemöller: "First they came for..." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists Merriam-Webster Dictionary online page for "mandate": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandate Thomas Friedman, “Trump is Going Woke,”  New York Times, January 29, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/opinion/deepseek-ai-trump.html?searchResultPosition=3 Craig’s article on the benefits of DEIB for an institution, “Facilitating Belonging: Ombuds as the Helpful Stranger,” January, 2025, Journal of the International Ombuds Association, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5101487 REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE: Craig has worked with The Marjorie Kovler Center four decades and serves on its Leadership Council.  The Marjorie Kovler Center is one of the world’s preeminent programs for specialized services for survivors of torture and severe trauma, including mental health care, medical care, and case management. Since its founding in 1987, the Kovler Center has served thousands of survivors, along with families and children experiencing forced migration. Today, the Kovler Center is facing an unprecedented emergency due to funding freezes from the Trump administration at a time when survivors need us more than ever before. We need your help to keep our doors open. Link: https://heartlandallianceinternational.org/donate/ (select Marjorie Kovler Center in the "I want to support" drop-down menu) INFORMATION ON IMMIGRATION AND IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS National Immigration Justice Center: https://immigrantjustice.org/ Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights:  https://www.icirr.org/ American Immigration Council: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/ Center for Migration Studies: https://cmsny.org/?s=Kerwin&view=list&perpage=6&sort=desc National Immigration Project: https://nipnlg.org/work/resources

2. 

   24 Jan 2025

   A challenge to Birthright Citizenship

   Today we talk about the 14th amendment and the executive order to change it signed recently. We also talk about Episcopal DC Bishop the Right Rev. Mariann Budde, and the new policies of ICE https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/politics/ice-can-arrest-people-at-churches-and-schools https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/21/republican-reaction-jan-6-violent-offenders-trump-pardon/?utm_campaign=wp_the_5_minute_fix&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/21/trumps-un-ambassador-pick-says-israel-has-biblical-right-to-west-bank https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-brown-challenges-unconstitutional-order-birthright-citizenship SHOW NOTES 1.      Peter L. Markowitz, “NYC’s Sanctuary Law Helps Defeat Crime,” January 22, 2025, Daily News: https://outlook.office.com/mail/id/AAMkAGQ0OTc4Yzg3LWM1ZmQtNDk2My05MDE2LWJmMTQzNjBjN2EzZABGAAAAAAAuHa6nzIS9Q7wlj7bMjykXBwCucHtiDUopSpTFhKH4HVWkAAAAf4RCAAAv5SVIveJEQpbNf6pkO5iaAAKrTT0wAAA%3D/sxs/AAMkAGQ0OTc4Yzg3LWM1ZmQtNDk2My05MDE2LWJmMTQzNjBjN2EzZABGAAAAAAAuHa6nzIS9Q7wlj7bMjykXBwCucHtiDUopSpTFhKH4HVWkAAAAf4RCAAAv5SVIveJEQpbNf6pkO5iaAAKrTT0wAAABEgAQAFDIlJqE2AdHoPzJBUZmTOA%3D 2.     The case we quoted is from New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support v. Donald Trump et al., https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2025/01/0176.pdf 3.     “Protecting the Value and Meaning of American Citizenship,” Executive Order, January 20, 2025: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/ ACTION STEPS: 1.     Please support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and seek to end the Knesset’s ban on its humanitarian activities:  https://www.unrwausa.org/hands-off-unrwa 2.     Please call your Senators and ask them to vote no on the nominations of Elsie Stefanik for United States Ambassador to the United Nations and Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel. You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senator’s office.

3. 

   17 Jan 2025

   Defense Secretary Hearings and Chicago Votes to Protect Immigrants

   SHOW NOTES We talk about the confirmation hearings, the release of the special counsels report and the vote in Chicago to help protect immigrants. https://news.wttw.com/2025/01/15/chicago-city-council-votes-39-11-reject-push-scale-back-protections-undocumented https://apnews.com/article/pete-hegseth-background-defense-secretary-confirmation-hearing-e160e10c86385a8beff110d9190fb34e https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-announces-israel-hamas-ceasefire-deal-2025-01-15/ https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/14/politics/takeaways-jack-smith-report-donald-trump/index.html For more information on Pete Hegseth’s connection to the Crusades, see Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite’s Substack, “Hegseth; The Tatooed Crusader.”  https://susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/p/hegseth-the-tatooed-crusader?publication_id=1360431&post_id=154832528&isFreemail=true&r=4pgnh9&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email See also, Ben Samuels, “Trump's Defense Secretary Pick Supports Israel 'Killing Every Last Member of Hamas',” https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2025-01-14/ty-article/.premium/trumps-defense-secretary-pick-supports-israel-killing-every-last-member-of-hamas/00000194-65d5-db9d-a1b5-7fd7b4b20000 The quote from Diarmaid MacCulloch on the Crusades came from his book, Christianity, The First Three Thousand Years, (N.Y., Viking, 2010), p. 387.  In addition to his criticism of the Crusades and the Knights Templar (p. 386), see also, Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity, The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, Vol. I of, (N.Y., Harper One, 2010), pp. 345-56) For information on his support of soldiers alleged to have committed war crimes, see:  Nik Popli, Pete Hegseth’s Role in Trump’s Controversial Pardons of Men Accused of War Crimes.” https://time.com/7176342/pete-hegseth-donald-trump-pardon-war-crimes-military/ ACTION STEPS Please support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and seek to end the Knesset’s ban on its humanitarian activities:  https://www.unrwausa.org/hands-off-unrwa Please immediately contact your Senators to vote no on the Laken-Riley Act.  The vote may come as early as Saturday, January 18.  For more information on the Act, see the National Immigration Law Center’s five points against the Act.  https://www.nilc.org/articles/nilc-opposes-the-h-r-29-the-laken-riley-act/ Detention Watch Network asks you to call or email your Senator and ask them to vote no.  https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-to-s5-laken-riley You can call the Capitol Switchboard at: 202-224-3121.  They suggest the following call script: "Hello, I am a constituent, and I urge the Senator to vote NO on the Laken Riley Act.”

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

334,425

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

149 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

86 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 78 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

83

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

95