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PODCAST

Unwritten Law

New Civil Liberties Alliance

Unwritten Law is a podcast hosted by Mark Chenoweth and John Vecchione, brought to you by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA). This show dives deep into the world of unlawful administrative power, exposing how bureaucrats operate outside the bounds of written law through informal guidance, regulatory “dark matter,” and unconstitutional agency overreach.

government politics

All Episodes

22:04

21 States Back Challenge to EPA Power: SCOTUS Push

Unwritten Law ·

2026/04/23

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President and Chief Legal Officer Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione are joined by NCLA General Counsel Zhonette Brown to discuss new developments in Choice Refrigerants v. EPA, a case asking the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the nondelegation doctrine.The conversation focuses on a wave of amicus briefs filed in support of Supreme Court review, including a brief led by West Virginia and joined by 20 other states, as well as submissions

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21:12

Standing, Security, and the “Trump Ballroom”

Unwritten Law ·

2026/04/21

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President and Chief Legal Officer Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione break down a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit involving plans to construct a ballroom at the White House.The case—brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation—sought to halt construction, raising questions about historic preservation, executive authority, and whether private organizations have standing to challenge

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29:45

Birthright Citizenship at the Supreme Court

Unwritten Law ·

2026/04/10

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President and Chief Legal Officer Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione break down Trump v. Barbara, a closely watched case before the U.S. Supreme Court addressing the scope of birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.John shares firsthand insights from attending oral argument, where the Court considered whether the Constitution guarantees citizenship to all children born in the United States or whether limits may apply to

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26:00

State Department Admits First Amendment Violations

Unwritten Law ·

2026/04/06

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President and Chief Legal Officer Mark Chenoweth, Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione, Senior Litigation Counsel Peggy Little, and Of Counsel Margot Cleveland discuss a major settlement in The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and the State of Texas v. U.S. Department of State.The case challenged a years-long effort in which State Department funds were routed through third-party organizations and technologies—such as the Global Disinformation Index and

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16:23

Who Gets to Decide What’s a Crime?

Unwritten Law ·

2026/04/05

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione is joined by NCLA Litigation Counsel Casey Norman to discuss Pheasant v. United States, a case asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether Congress can delegate the power to create criminal laws to federal agencies.The case began when a man riding a dirt bike on Bureau of Land Management land was charged with a criminal offense—not because Congress passed a law making his conduct a crime, but because a federal

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18:02

The Massachusetts Phone Spyware Case

Unwritten Law ·

2026/04/04

Did the government install tracking software on people’s phones without permission?In this episode of Unwritten Law, Mark Chenoweth and John Vecchione are joined by NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel Peggy Little to discuss Wright v. Goldstein, a case challenging Massachusetts’ use of COVID contact-tracing technology that was allegedly installed automatically on Android phones without users’ knowledge or consent.The lawsuit argued that the program violated the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, and

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36:49

The Inside Story of Murthy v. Missouri: How the...

Unwritten Law ·

2026/03/27

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione and NCLA General Counsel Zhonette Brown discuss their work on Murthy v. Missouri, one of the most significant First Amendment cases in recent years.They explain how the case began, the discovery battles that revealed government “back-channel” communications with social media companies, the preliminary injunction, the Supreme Court’s standing decision, and the consent decree that followed. They also discuss what the

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25:01

Judge Newman and the Right to a Day in Court

Unwritten Law ·

2026/03/25

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione are joined by NCLA Litigation Counsel Andy Morris to discuss Newman v. Moore, a case asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether a federal judge can be effectively removed from hearing cases without meaningful judicial review.Judge Pauline Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has been barred from hearing new cases for years under the Judicial Conduct and Disability

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26:25

The First Amendment vs. the SEC Gag Rule

Unwritten Law ·

2026/03/23

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione are joined by Senior Litigation Counsel Peggy Little to discuss Powell v. SEC, case that NCLA is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the SEC’s long-standing “gag rule.”The rule prohibits individuals who settle with the SEC from ever publicly denying the agency’s allegations—even if they believe those allegations are false. Peggy explains why the case presents a major First Amendment

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16:19

Geofencing, Google Data, and the Fourth Amendment

Unwritten Law ·

2026/03/17

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione is joined by NCLA Staff Attorney Andreia Trifoi to discuss a major Fourth Amendment case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving the use of geofence warrants.Geofence warrants allow law enforcement to obtain location data from companies like Google identifying every device within a specific area during a defined period of time—potentially sweeping in dozens or even hundreds of people with no connection to any crime

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22:43

Disparate Impact and the Limits of Agency Power

Unwritten Law ·

2026/03/05

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione welcome Caitlin Moyna, Senior Litigation Counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, to the podcast for the first time.The conversation focuses on the controversial “disparate impact” liability rule in housing law and HUD’s effort to rescind it. The rule allows liability for housing practices that unintentionally affect one group more than another—even when there is no intent to

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27:09

Can Congress Hand EPA the Power to Pick Winners?

Unwritten Law ·

2026/03/03

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione are joined by NCLA General Counsel Zhonette Brown to discuss a petition for certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a major separation-of-powers case involving the Environmental Protection Agency.The case, Choice Refrigerants v. EPA, challenges how the agency implemented Congress’s AIM Act, which created a cap-and-trade system to phase down certain refrigerants. According to the

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32:12

The Supreme Court Slaps Down Presidential Tariff Power

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/26

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione and NCLA President Mark Chenoweth are joined by Andy Morris to discuss the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision rejecting the claim that the President has unilateral authority to impose, raise, or lower tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).The conversation unpacks Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion, which relies on careful textual analysis to reaffirm that tariff authority belongs to

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16:30

Does SEC Disgorgement Require Investor Harm?

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/24

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione is joined by NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel Kara Rollins to discuss Sriptech v. SEC, a securities law case scheduled to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in April.The case asks a critical question: must the Securities and Exchange Commission prove that investors suffered actual financial harm in order to obtain disgorgement in a civil enforcement action? John and Kara explain how recent Supreme Court decisions,

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25:58

The Supreme Court’s Emergency Docket Turns Ten

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/22

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione mark the ten-year anniversary of what’s often called the Supreme Court’s “emergency docket”—sometimes labeled the “shadow docket”—and examine how it has reshaped constitutional litigation.Mark and John explain what the emergency docket is, how it differs from merits decisions, and why its modern form is often traced to the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision to stay the Obama Administration’s Clean

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26:27

Student Loan Pauses, Standing, and Lost Subsidies

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/20

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione are joined by Russ Ryan to discuss a recent oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit challenging the federal government’s student loan payment and interest pause.The case, Mackinac Center for Public Policy v. U.S. Department of Education, focuses on the executive branch’s decision—under both the Trump and Biden administrations—to extend a moratorium on student loan

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24:29

The SEC’s Stock Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/11

In this episode of Unwritten Law, Mark Chenoweth and John Vecchione are joined by NCLA Of Counsel Margot Cleveland to discuss one of NCLA’s most consequential ongoing cases: Davidson v. Adkins, a constitutional challenge to the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT).The CAT requires broker-dealers to collect and transmit detailed data on virtually every stock trade in the United States, creating a massive government-accessible database of Americans’ financial activity. Margot explains why recent

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13:25

Can DOE Regulate Water Use Without Congress?

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/09

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione discuss John’s recent oral argument at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Word v. Department of Energy.Bill Word and David Daquin both own a dishwasher and a washing machine that they want to replace. The U.S. Department of Energy has imposed regulations in 2012 and 2024 illegally limiting how much water dishwashers and washing machines can use. The appliances Word and Daquin

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21:15

Seven Amicus Briefs, One Big Question After Loper Bright

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/06

In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione and NCLA President Mark Chenoweth discuss a major development in NCLA’s challenge to a federal rule requiring fishermen to pay for government monitors placed on their boats—despite no clear statutory authorization.After a district court upheld the rule using a theory that conflicts with the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright, NCLA appealed to the First Circuit. Now, seven separate amicus briefs—from across the

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18:37

Cross-Deputized—and Above the Law?

Unwritten Law ·

2026/02/04

What happens when a state or local police officer violates someone’s constitutional rights—and courts say there’s no practical way to sue?In this episode of Unwritten Law, NCLA President Mark Chenoweth and Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione are joined by Casey Norman to discuss Mohamud v. Weyker (No. 25-760), now at the U.S. Supreme Court.NCLA’s amicus brief explains that multiple courts have recognized Officer Heather Weyker (a St. Paul police officer) abused her authority by fabricating

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102 results

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