Bob Crawford and C-SPAN's Student Cam 2026 winners Murillo Dos Santos, Sami Youssef, and Zeb Unger present "The King's Court," arguing President Trump's deployment of armed agents tests the rule of law. Naftali Ben-David notes this revives foundational debates on equal treatment, while Thomas B. Griffith warns that Attorney General Pam Bondi working solely at the president's directive signals a dangerous shift where the White House supersedes Congress and the judiciary. Critics label these actions a "judicial coup," risking the collapse of public trust in America's 250-year-old democratic institutions. [Automatically generated summary]
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Bob Crawford on John Quincy Adams00:02:00
Book Notes Plus with our host Brian Lamb.
Bob Crawford plays upright bass, bass guitar, and violin for the Grammy-nominated Americana band, the Abitt Brothers.
He's been with the band for 25 years.
Since 2016, Mr. Crawford has had his own podcast called The Road to Now, along with Ben Sawyer.
Their focus is about history.
Six years ago, during his band's tour, Mr. Crawford received his master's degree online from Arizona State University.
The focus again was history.
Now comes his first serious book titled America's Founding Son, John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick.
Bob Crawford spends a significant amount of time discussing the 17 years Adams spent in the House of Representatives after he was president trying to stop the spread of slavery in the United States.
A new interview with author Bob Crawford about his book, America's Founding Son, John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick.
Book Notes Plus with our host Brian Lamb is available wherever you get your podcasts and on the C-SPAN Now app.
This year, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, C-SPAN's Student Cam documentary competition invited students to create short films exploring themes from American history, the rights and freedoms rooted in this founding document, and pressing issues of today, from the economy and immigration to criminal justice, education, and healthcare.
Nearly 4,000 students from 38 states and Washington, D.C. took part in this year's competition.
Throughout this month, we're proud to showcase our top 21 winners.
This year's second prize high school East winners are Murillo Dos Santos, Sami Youssef, and Zeb Unger, 11th graders from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, where our local partner is Comcast.
The Personalization of Justice00:05:53
Their winning documentary is titled The King's Court about how President Trump's actions test the rule of law and public trust in American democratic institutions.
We're seeing a president send armed agents into cities.
We're seeing people's efforts to protest be challenged.
We're seeing attacks on freedom of the press.
We're seeing a certain personalization of the justice system.
And so I think even after two and a half centuries, we're seeing some of these debates that were really crucial at the time that the country was founded being revived in a very stark, very dramatic, very confrontational way that we haven't seen in any of our lifetimes.
My name is Naftali Ben-David.
I'm senior political correspondent for the Washington Post.
I've been in journalism for about 40 years.
The founders of this country wanted there to be equal treatment under the law.
Not a law decided by a king, but a law that was decided based on the facts.
The rule of law is not just about words on paper.
The rule of law is about the character of the people who are charged with enforcing the law.
In our country, law is king.
The king isn't king.
The president isn't king.
Law is king, and that's what has been our hallmark as a people, and it's what's made us successful.
I'm Thomas B. Griffith.
I was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
I was a conservative Republican who was appointed to be the chief legal officer of the United States Senate.
The Constitution and the founders clearly envisioned a situation with three major branches of government that were essentially co-equal.
But there's a situation now where the White House seems to be a lot more powerful than either Congress or the judiciary.
What we are seeing with this executive is: I don't care so much about the other two branches.
You know, I'm the president, I've got these powers, and if it's not explicit in the Constitution, he's frequently said it's inherent in the Constitution, and he can do things regardless of whether they tread on the powers of the judiciary.
All of the lawyers in the Department of Justice are lawyers for the American people.
They represent the American people.
He has loyalists at the top leadership positions, and they happily comply with his requests, as when Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed him to the Department of Justice.
We are so proud to work at the directive of Donald Trump.
It is that's probably the first time an attorney general has ever said that they work at the direction of the president.
When I went into court for those many years, what I would say is: I'm Mary McCord.
I'm here on behalf of the United States, not on behalf of the president.
In 2016, I declared, I am your voice.
Today I add, I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.
I am your retribution.
Donald Trump campaigned for reelection on the argument that when he was in charge again, he would make people who had hurt him politically pay for it.
President Trump openly calls for the prosecution of people who are his political or personal adversaries.
You know, he had this social media post saying that people like former FBI Director Jim Comey, like New York Attorney General Letitia James, like California Senator Adam Schiff, are, quote, guilty as hell, and urging the Justice Department to prosecute them.
That's not a thing we usually see in the American system.
Donald Trump wants people to comply and obediently prosecute the individuals he wants prosecuted.
And the people that he's chosen to do it often have no experience as prosecutors.
There are certain rules that apply to acting appointments, and he's tried to circumvent those.
And so in multiple states now and jurisdictions, there's been challenges to those U.S. attorneys who have been unlawfully appointed.
When we hear public officials criticize the rulings of judges that they don't like and use phrases like, we're experiencing a judicial coup or a judicial insurrection.
A, that's not accurate, that's inaccurate, and B, that's dangerous.
In recent months, we've seen a handful of radical left judges effectively try to overrule the rightful powers of the president.
Well, there's always been certain lines that presidents and other political figures, for that matter, have respected.
I mean, rarely do they take off after judges with insults and attacks and characterizations of their decisions.
No crime.
I have a crooked judge.
He's a totally conflicted judge.
No, we have a process in place.
Those decisions can be appealed and they will be appealed.
Some judges have suggested that they think the administration has walked right up to the line of flouting judicial orders and disregarding them.
A judge says there is probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt in regards to the case of deporting Venezuelan migrants, despite that judge's order in his court to turn the plane around.
He feels that as the president of the United States, which he views as the most powerful country in the world, he just doesn't have to abide by the rule of law.
If he does it, that is the law.
I mean, I do think there's a risk that people of all political perspectives will start to lose faith and lose trust in the justice system and in the government.
And once that happens, I think there's a real risk to the system as we have seen it for 250 years.
Losing Faith in the System00:01:00
You need that trust, you need that faith, you need that feeling of investment from all parts of the citizenry in order for the system to work.
And if you start losing that faith and losing that trust, it's hard to say what's going to come next.
Be sure to watch all of the winning entries on our website at studentcam.org.
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