Barbara McQuade

Former U.S. attorney and MS NOW legal analyst Barbara McQuade appeared at the Progressive Forum to discuss her book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government. The event took place at Congregation Emanu El, Houston, Texas on October 22, 2026. 
What inspires you from the Progressive Era? Today’s parallels with the Gilded Age. The “horseshoe effect,” a symbol of left-right alliances on, say, affordability. (4:38)

More Barbara McQuade Videos

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SHORT: What are fragilities of dictatorships? What are recipes for success? Working class and rural voters united in Poland and Hungary. Elissa Slotkin in rural Michigan. Jon Ossoff exposed corruption. (3:43)
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SHORT: Where to start on campaign finance reform? Obscene amounts of money take voting power away from citizens. Could start with a law requiring dark money PACS to disclose donors. (4:42)
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SHORT: Where to start on solving gerrymandering? In Michigan, like some states, created nonpartisan independent citizen redistricting commissions. Congress could pass a statute requiring every state to create an independent commission. (2:42)
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SHORT: How to reform the Department of Justice? We did it after Watergate. To start, codify what are now norms. (2:37)

Background

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, her alma mater, where she teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, and data privacy. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MS NOW, and co-host of the #SistersInLaw podcast. From 2010 to 2017, McQuade served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She was appointed by President Barack Obama and was the first woman to serve in her position. Earlier in her career, she worked as a sportswriter and copy editor, a judicial law clerk, an associate in private practice, and an assistant US attorney. McQuade is author of the national bestseller, Attack from Within. She and her husband have four children and live in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Generously sponsored by Rebecca and Scott McCay, Lynn Edmundson, and The American Constitution Society Houston Lawyer Chapter.

Barbara McQuade Updates

 

Thanks to videographer BEND Productions

Thanks to our photographer CJ Martin

For citing this website as a source: ProgressiveForumHouston.org

Thanks to Barbara McQuade for permission to post the full event on our webpage. We welcome visitors to share this exciting educational material.