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Democratic accountability collapses fastest when leaders discover they can violate norms faster than courts can respond.
Public safety, not partisan theater, becomes the first casualty when prosecutors are removed for ideological convenience.
The fight for democratic durability depends on whether people still believe truth has value independent of power.
Andrew Warren knows firsthand how the justice system can be bent and broken by those in power. Now he fights back every day working with Democracy Defenders [ [link removed] ], a bipartisan group led by former Ambassador Norm Eisen.
Once he and Susan Demas establish the terrain on First Draft, the conversation opens into a deeper reckoning with what it means to defend a system that no longer self-corrects. It’s striking how quickly a community can feel the consequences when legitimacy is treated as ornamental rather than foundational—how a case that should have symbolized justice instead becomes a case study in power’s capacity to erase outcomes it dislikes. The work they describe forces a reminder that restoring guardrails isn’t about nostalgia for “norms” but about rebuilding the expectation that institutions serve people rather than personalities. Even the most outrageous abuses lose their shock value when repetition dulls the senses, which is precisely why vigilance has to operate with more stamina than outrage. The through-line here isn’t grievance—it’s a commitment to making the rule of law something sturdier than a suggestion.
Tune into the full discussion between Susan J. Demas and Andrew H. Warren, now!

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