Is the Right Abandoning Its Own Principles?

After nearly 16 years in the FBI, Michael Feinberg left a career he loved. Now he’s warning about what’s happening inside the Bureau. He joins Gregg Nunziata to discuss his departure, the loss of experienced agents, and the political pressure he says is reshaping the FBI under Kash Patel. From Chinese counterintelligence to the targeting of presidential critics, Feinberg explains the national security stakes and the choices facing agents caught between their careers and their consciences.Subscribe for weekly conversations about law, liberty, and the threats to both from the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

Gregg Nunziata welcomes Nathaniel Zelinsky of Washington Litigation Group to discuss the legal battles over federal firings, independent agencies, and America’s public monuments. They examine how the Supreme Court has expanded presidential authority, what lawyers can still do to push back, and why protecting the rule of law ultimately requires more than court victories.Subscribe for weekly conversations about law, liberty, and the threats to both from the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

On this episode of Checks and Balances, Gregg Nunziata sits down with former Polish Deputy Minister of Justice Zuzanna Rudzińska-Bluszcz to discuss Poland’s struggle to defend judicial independence and restore the rule of law. Drawing on her experience as a human rights lawyer and government official, she explains how political leaders weakened independent institutions, how judges and ordinary citizens fought back, and why winning an election is only the beginning of democratic repair.Their conversation explores the lessons for Americans—and why protecting democracy also means building a government that delivers for the people it serves.Subscribe for weekly conversations about law, liberty, and the threats to both from the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

Tom Joscelyn, principal author of the January 6 committee’s final report, joins Gregg Nunziata on Checks and Balances to discuss how conspiracy theories, social media, and political extremism are reshaping America. Joscelyn explains what the investigation revealed about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, why he believes accountability failed, and how ideas once confined to the fringes became mainstream.They also discuss threats from the far right and far left, preserving the January 6 record, and why Joscelyn is calling for an American “reformation” rooted in constitutional principles and a better future for working families.Subscribe for more conversations about law, liberty, and defending the Constitution. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

Who should control your data—and what happens when that power is abused? Gregg Nunziata talks with former DHS Chief Privacy Officer Nuala O’Connor about government overreach, digital privacy, and why AI companies must play by the same rules as everyone else. Also: What does it mean to protect liberty and the rule of law in an increasingly connected world?Listen to Checks & Balances, a podcast of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

Former FEC Chairman Trevor Potter joins Gregg Nunziata to explain how America’s election safeguards have weakened—and why the Trump administration’s efforts to expand federal control over elections deserve close scrutiny.They discuss the collapse of meaningful FEC enforcement, potential voter-roll purges, federal involvement at polling places, threats to the certification process, and the legal preparations underway to protect the midterms. Potter also reflects on campaign-finance reform, his work with John McCain, and the founding of the Campaign Legal Center.Subscribe to Checks and Balances for weekly conversations about law, liberty, and the threats facing both in America today. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

What happens when winning elections becomes more important than the principles a movement claims to defend? Gregg Nunziata talks with Reason senior editor Stephanie Slade about her new book, “Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right,” and whether conservatism can reclaim its commitment to freedom, faith, and the rule of law. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

Historian Timothy Ryback joins Gregg Nunziata on Checks & Balances to discuss his book, 53 Days, and the decisions that helped Hitler dismantle Germany’s democracy in 1933. They examine the journalists and lawyers who resisted, the politicians who recognized the danger but voted to give Hitler power, and what this history can—and cannot—tell us about America today. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

Checks & Balances is a podcast of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute.Federal judges are facing an unprecedented wave of threats. Amrit Singh, Professor of Practice and the founding director of NYU Law’s Rule of Law Lab, and Jeremy Fogel, a former district judge in California and the Executive Director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, join Gregg Nunziata on Checks & Balances. Professor Singh and Judge Fogel discuss the findings from their recently published report Threats to the Independence of the Federal Judiciary, which offers concrete recommendations for strengthening judicial independence, the keystone of our nation’s constitutional order.Follow along to Checks & Balances now on Substack, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.Note: This episode was recorded on September 16, 2026.Resources:* Professor Singh and Judge Fogel’s report: Threats to the Independence of the Federal Judiciary* Professor Singh and Judge Fogel’s article in The Hill: “Federal judges are being targeted with pizza doxxing; no one has been held to account” Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe

Checks & Balances is a podcast of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute.William Baude, the Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, joins Gregg Nunziata, the Executive Director of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute, for a conversation about the postal service executive order, the White House ballroom, and cases to watch in the upcoming Supreme Court term. They also delve into Professor Baude’s research interests, including the development of uniform time, and how Professor Baude’s popular legal podcast Divided Argument came to be.Follow Checks & Balances now on Substack, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.Note: This episode was recorded on September 3, 2026.Resources:* Professor Baude’s podcast Divided Argument. * Professor Baude’s articles on the 14th Amendment. * Professor Baude’s lecture on William Winslow Crosskey, the “forgotten originalist.” * The Society for the Rule of Law’s amicus briefs in the postal service case. Get full access to Checks & Balances at chkbal.substack.com/subscribe