Anthony Romero
speaker
127 appearances
9 recordings
2 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard Jun 2025
Anthony Romero’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsNo recordings in the last 12 months.Older appearances are listed below; set an alert to hear about the next one.
Appearances
You're looking. I'm looking. And not finding yet. There's a lot of mumbling. You see the articles about how some Democrats are trying to find their feet from under them.
I don't have to run for office. I don't have to be popular. When I file my transgender rights lawsuit, I don't need 51% of the American people to agree with me. I know what's right. The equal protection arguments are what's right. I think Democrats have a harder job because they're trying to figure out how, and he's picked a fight with them on the culture war issues.
It's a great question. It's a great question. Are you despairing of it? No, I think it comes around. I compare this moment, David, to the 9-11 moment, right? That's when I started my job, the week before 9-11. You remember the Patriot Act was enacted with everyone's assent in Congress, except for one, Russ Feingold.
And so I told my folks back at the ACLU, this is a time we have to ride this moment just like we did after 9-11, where we have to build public momentum. The war on terror was very popular. The deportations that John Ashcroft did, the creation of Gitmo as a place to hold people and detain them, the whole question around— Gitmo is about to get a new lease on life, potentially.
And we're litigating that one, too.
And, you know, look, so there are more than 50 or so executive orders that have come down. There are more than 40 lawsuits that have been filed in response. It's really quite a different moment. People realize that the zone is being flooded and it requires us to coordinate with each other in a way I haven't seen before. You sound pretty confident.
I'm not sure I'm confident in the ultimate outcome. I'm confident in the response that we're engaged with. I mean, we have filed over 10 lawsuits already in three weeks. You know, those are real lawsuits. Those are real with plaintiffs and filings and real theories.
Knuckling under in advance, you see that in other places. I mean, look, that's what a lot of these tech leaders, that beautiful parade of billionaires who were so preening for the camera behind the president as he took the oath of office.
Now, I know some of them personally, and I know that some of them were there because they felt they had to, to defend their corporate interests, their shareholder interests. Who do you know and who are you talking about? That's better not to kiss and tell on the radio. But I think there, the knuckling under, you definitely see it in the private sector.
I think the fatigue factor is a matter of pacing ourselves. This is one of the things I tell my folks. I say, yeah, we filed 10 suits already. We have another three or four in the hopper for the next week or so. Is it possible to pace yourself considering the ferocity and speed at which things are happening? You've got to retain bandwidth.
You know, if we run the gauntlet and we file all the cases that we need to right now and then don't have the ability to file them in years two, three, and four, we'll do the country no good. We have to play this game smartly. And we are picking and choosing our battles. There are some of them we say, let another group run. Who are your allies? Democracy Forward.
the American Federation for Government Employees, FGE, the AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood. There's a list of us, there's about 50 or 60 of us who talk multiple times a day. And so we say, okay, you got that case, we got this case.
No, they're just kind of, everyone's very pragmatic, very focused on what the moment requires of us. And it might take us five years or 10 years But we will get there. And I think if we stay on it like water on stone, and I run an organization— Do we have five years or ten years?
Do we have time like that? There will be flashpoints. The defiance of a final judicial order. There will be flashpoints and there will be blood. There will be blood. And there will be a need for groups to then pick up the pieces from where we are then. And I think organizations like mine that have been around 105 years have to think about the staying power. What we do today is critical.
What we do in 10 years, in 15, in 20 years is going to be equally critical. And that's why we just have to stay on it. Anthony Romero, thank you very much. My pleasure, David. Thank you.
I have so much to say on this subject.
Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
So my question is this. The nomination process is taking longer than it should. Why is that? And because we still have to do ambassadors and everything, and we're not even through the cabinet members.
Yes.
Talk to you soon.
Showing 101–120 of 127 · page 6 of 7
← Previous
Next →