Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history - Inside the Unite the Right trial

Inside the Unite the Right trial

03/28/24 • 62 min

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history

In the first episode of season two, Infinite Global Head Writer Andrew Longstreth and M Coffey founder Murray Coffey speak with Michael L. Bloch and Benjamin D. White about their role taking on the white supremacists who organized the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017. The $26 million verdict they helped win for victims of the violence made national headlines and sent a powerful message to the defendants and their allies.

The trial featured a devastating cross examination by Bloch of Richard Spencer, the leader of the alt right. In the episode Bloch discusses how he prepared for it, the story he wanted to tell and some of the key strategic decisions he made.

The two co-founders of the litigation boutique Bloch & White, now two years old, also talk about what’s next on their docket.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

The two co-founders of the litigation boutique Bloch & White, now two years old, also talk about what’s next on their docket.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Previous Episode

The historic return of Bruce’s Beach with George Fatheree

In this episode, George Fatheree III talks about his journey leading to his representation of the heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce, whose land in the city of Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County was taken away from them a century ago.
Justice for the Bruces gained momentum in April 2021 when Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell announced their intention to have Los Angeles County return the beachfront property to the Bruce’s legal heirs.
But the return was not a sure thing. Opposition loomed. There were thorny legal questions to answer, tax implications to consider, and legislative hurdles to clear.
At the time, a partner at Munger Tolles & Olson who would later leave for Sidley Austin, Fatheree had an ideal background for the assignment, which included politics, real estate, and projects supporting the African-American community. At Munger and Sidley, he was also backed by multidisciplinary teams, who eventually devoted more than 1,000 pro bono hours to creating a model for other governments to correct historical injustices.
Their work paid off. On July 20, 2022, the Board of Supervisors returned ownership of Bruce’s Beach to the closest living legal heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce. It was the first time any government in the United States had returned land wrongly taken from a Black family.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Next Episode

Trump v. US through the lens of history

When the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump v. United States over presidential immunity, it didn’t take long for the intent of the Founding Fathers to take center stage.

“There are amici here who tell us that the Founders actually talked about whether to grant immunity to the president,” Justice Sotomayor said early in the hearing. “And, in fact, they had state constitutions that granted some criminal immunity to governors. And yet they didn’t take it up.”

The amici Justice Sotomayor was referring to are 15 leading Founding Era historians. In an amicus brief, they argued that former President Trump’s claim of permanent criminal immunity runs contrary to the Framers’ intent to avoid creating an elective monarchy.

The job of combing through the historical record and synthesizing the august group’s expertise fell to counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and Friedman Kaplan, led by partners Larry Robbins, Katherine Pringle and associate Ian Bruckner. Over a 34-page brief, they drew upon original sources, including Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the Federalist Papers, and James Madison’s Journal of the Constitutional Convention, to make the case that no one is above the law.

The brief not only struck a chord with some of the justices but also resonated with the public, garnering attention from MSNBC, The Guardian, Law360 and the Washington Post.

In this episode of Re-Examination, Katherine Pringle and Ian Bruckner discuss their approach to researching and writing the brief, what they learned, and why they think the brief resonated so much.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history - Inside the Unite the Right trial

Transcript

(00:03) In the fall of 2021, attorney Michael Block came face to face in a federal courtroom with Richard Spencer, the self -proclaimed leader of the alt -right. Spencer was the headline defendant in a civil lawsuit against organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, where white supremacists marched on the University of Virginia's campus with tiki torches, shouting, Jews will not replace us in other racist chants.

(00:27) The two -da