At Trump's inauguration, around 200 protesters and journalists were mass arrested in a dragnet sweep and now face up to 70 years in prison on felony riot and conspiracy charges. Many other legal assaults on civil liberties are in the works around the country, from treating anti-fascists as "domestic terrorists", to legislation protecting drivers who run over peaceful marchers.

To explore what this means for U.S. activists today, the Empire Files' Abby Martin sat down recently with constitutional rights lawyer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, head of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.