This is a featured conversation from Future Hindsight, a podcast with a simple premise: civic participation is essential to a functioning democracy. So how do we do it? In this episode, host Mila Atmos speaks with Sung Yeon Choimorrow, the executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, about Asian American stereotypes, changing the narrative about who Asian-Americans are, and activating Asian communities to take civic action. You can find so many more conversations that...
Oct 18, 2022•38 min
In September 2022, Hannah sat down with NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent for a show called Writers on a New England Stage. This is an excerpt from their conversation. Nina discusses her new book, Dinners with Ruth, focusing on her career as a journalist and her relationship with late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. You can catch the whole conversation at nhpr.org. Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of...
Oct 11, 2022•36 min
The Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause says that no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." Basically, it means that the government, or law enforcement, can't force you to talk to implicate yourself in a crime. However, what that looks like in practice... is a little more messy. When do you have a right to remain silent? When do you become a suspect? What does compulsion look like? Can your silence be used against you? We talk about how the Supr...
Oct 04, 2022•45 min
From the Presidential Oath of Office to the Oath of Allegiance to sworn testimony, Americans take an awful lot of oaths. Today we explore the history of oaths in the US, the linguistic tinkering that's happened to oaths of office over the last few centuries and the repercussions of breaking an oath. For anyone interested in a deeper dive into the Pledge of Allegiance and the American flag, as well as how statutes regarding them and your First Amendment rights have intermingled, check out our ear...
Sep 27, 2022•22 min
In 1968, a raucous Democratic nominating convention was overshadowed only by the shouts outside to end the war. This is the story of how eight different protestors from very different walks of life ended up before an increasingly indignant judge and walked away scot-free -- but not before putting on a good show. Our guests are Victor Goode of CUNCY School of Law, Jeet Heer , national affairs correspondent for The Nation and Jeanne Barr, history teacher at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago....
Sep 20, 2022•49 min
The presidential veto is a powerful tool, but just how powerful it is depends on political context, timing, and party alignment. We'll pull back the curtain on the origin of the veto, how it works, and discuss moments when vetoes have had a real impact on our history. And yes, we'll even find out what the deal is with that pen. Our guests are Dr. Gisela Sin of the University of Illinois, and Ken Kato , a former historian at the U.S. House of Representatives. Do you love our work? Make a donation...
Sep 13, 2022•30 min
In preparation for the upcoming midterms, we talk about lies. This is the true story of the fake world created in disinformation campaigns. The voting populace spreads it like there's no tomorrow, without ever knowing what's real. We tell you what it is and how to avoid it. Our guests today are Samantha Lai of the Brookings Institute and Peter Adams of the News Literacy Project . If you believe in what we're doing (and think it's true!) consider donating. It really does speak your truth. Want ou...
Sep 06, 2022•35 min
The House and the Senate have mostly the same powers: they both propose and vote on bills that may become law. So why does the House have 435 members, and the Senate have 100? Why does legislation have to pass through both sides, and what kinds of power do each have individually? And finally: what role do you, as a voter, play in ensuring that Congress, and your Congressional delegation, is working in your best interests? This episode features the opinions of former staffers from both chambers, ...
Aug 30, 2022•31 min
Since its passage after World War I, thousands of people have been investigated for violating the Espionage Act, including Julian Assange, Daniel Ellsberg, and Donald Trump. However, only two people have been executed for violating it during peacetime; Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. This episode features Anne Sebba, author of Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy, and Jake Kobrick, Associate Historian at the Federal Judicial Center. It explains the Espionage Act of 1917, the accusations against the R...
Aug 23, 2022•26 min
Know your candidates and causes, find your polling place, have a plan! There are plenty of small steps you can take to be ready for the midterm election. But if you want to know what they're about and why they matter? Look and listen no further. Keith Hughes (with some help from Cheryl Cook-Kallio and Dan Cassino) tells us the five things you need to know about midterms. Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of ou...
Aug 16, 2022•24 min
Today we're opening our new series on famous trials in the Federal Courts. In this case, United States v Burr, the judge and jury had to decide whether to convict former VP Aaron Burr for the crime of treason. Taking us on the journey are Christine Lamberson, Director of History at the Federal Judicial Center, and Nancy Isenberg, professor at LSU and author of Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr. This trial has everything . Washington Irving, epaulets, a subpoenaed president, and a letter hid...
Aug 09, 2022•28 min
Since our nation's founding, the federal government has borrowed money from other governments, private investors, and businesses in order to operate. Over the last century, the debt ceiling, a Congressional cap on how much debt we can have, keeps getting higher and higher. We talk about how the national debt works, how it's been used as political leverage, and how that impacts the health of our economy. Louise Sheiner , senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Michael Dorf , Con...
Aug 02, 2022•23 min
Voting in America is not always straightforward, nor is its impact always clear. In this episode, we give you the basic tools to vote on Election Day, including tips for avoiding the roadblocks. And for those of you on the fence about exercising that enfranchisement, a word to the wise: your vote matters. Featuring: Kim Wehle , professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law Andrea Hailey, CEO of vote.org CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR AWESOME NEWSLETTER, EXTRA CREDIT! LOVE OUR WOR...
Jul 26, 2022•20 min
The United States is a representative democracy. The idea is that we’re a government " by the people" (we vote officials into office) and " for the people" (the officials in office are supposed to represent our interests). But it’s not so straightforward around here. LOVE OUR WORK? Please donate to help us continue it! Click here to chip in. When you take that golden idea and add restrictive voter laws, billions of dollars, and a whacky electoral system, representation takes on a whole different...
Jul 26, 2022•23 min
A few years ago, Civics 101 did a series revisiting the Declaration of Independence, and three groups for which the tenants of life, liberty, and property enshrined in that document did not apply. We bring you all three parts of that series today, and hear from legal and historical scholars about how Black Americans, Indigenous peoples, and women were excluded from our founding document, and how they responded. Find the series page here. Part 1: Byron Williams, author of The Radical Declaration,...
Jul 19, 2022•48 min
It came after decades of discrimination, violence and disenfranchisement -- President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, "an Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States." That Act worked. In the decades since, though, states and the Supreme Court have changed what that Act means and can do. Our guides to this sweeping legislation are Sonni Waknin of the UCLA Voting Rights Project and Gary May , author of Bending Towards Justice: The Voting...
Jul 12, 2022•38 min
Today, after one of the busiest civics-related news weeks in history, we take a break to talk about some of the history and ephemera tied to Independence Day. We talk about dates, names, songs, food, and explosions in the sky. Here are some links to episodes tied to the 4th: Declaration of Independence Declaration Revisited IRL2: The Flag and the Pledge Throughline's episode on Becoming America Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS! CLICK HERE: Visit our ...
Jul 04, 2022•25 min
The National Park Service has changed immensely since its days of keeping poachers out of Yellowstone. So has its approach to telling the story of America. Kirsten Talken-Spaulding of the NPS and Will Shafroth of the National Parks Foundation help us understand how this colossal system actually works and what it's doing to tell the true story of the United States. Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episo...
Jun 28, 2022•31 min
The government issues IDs so we can prove who we say we are, and since the start, that’s included an expression of binary (male or female) gender. Now, some states - and even the federal government - are starting to change that. LGBTQ+ reporter Kate Sosin is our guide. Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!...
Jun 21, 2022•26 min
27 words which have been interpreted and reinterpreted by historians, activists, judges, and philosophers. What did the 2nd Amendment mean when it was written? What does it mean right now? And what happened in between? Today's episode features Saul Cornell, professor of history at Fordham University and author of A Well Regulated Militia , Alexandra Filindra, professor of political science at University of Illinois Chicago and author of the upcoming Race, Rights, and Rifles, and Jake Charles, le...
Jun 14, 2022•42 min
A leaked draft opinion in a Supreme Court case about abortion reveals that a majority of the justices were, at the time of this draft's release, in favor of overturning the precedent set in Roe v Wade that protected abortion access. In our recent episode on judicial precedent, we talked about how the Supreme Court interprets the law, and how precedent gives that interpretation power, ensuring the law is applied equally to everyone. We also talked about how and why the Supreme Court might reconsi...
Jun 10, 2022•24 min
When the Supreme Court decides how the law, and the Constitution, should be interpreted in a case, that interpretation becomes a precedent. Once that judicial precedent has been set, it's understood that the interpretation and its reasoning should be applied to similar cases in the future. So why might the Supreme Court reconsider its own precedent? And what happens when a precedent is modified, or overruled? We talk to Nina Varsava , a law professor at University of Wisconsin, Madison who studi...
Jun 07, 2022•24 min
Civics 101 teamed up with the Outside/In podcast to bring you the story of Happy, an Asian elephant living in the Bronx Zoo. Lawyers had petitioned the New York State Court of Appeals for a writ of Habeas Corpus; a legal maneuver that could have freed Happy and set a new precedent for animal rights. But in a ruling out mid-June 2022, the court decided: Happy isn’t going anywhere. In this quick update to our previous episode (listen here if you haven’t already) Hannah debriefs with Outside/In hos...
Jun 03, 2022•6 min
Happy has lived in New York City’s Bronx Zoo for years. To visitors, she’s a lone Asian elephant. But to a team of animal rights lawyers, she’s a prisoner. They’ve petitioned state courts for a writ of Habeas Corpus; a legal maneuver that, if granted, would declare Happy a legal person who deserves to be freed. It’s the latest case in an ongoing fight to extend basic human rights to animals – one that could have big repercussions in the natural world. Because this is a case that deals with anima...
Jun 02, 2022•25 min
Our episodes come out on Tuesday, but this week is different. Special crossover Civics 101 and Outside/In episode coming out on Thursday, take your trunk and mark your calendar! Support our mission to explain how the government works here . Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in b...
May 31, 2022•6 min
The federal judiciary system has three steps: district court, circuit court, and the Supreme Court, and despite what you see on screen, many cases do not end with that first courtroom verdict. This is how the federal judiciary system works, what makes a case worthy of consideration by the Supreme Court, and what happens when case lands in front of SCOTUS. We talked with Erin Corcoran , Executive Director for the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies, and Behzad Mirhashem , Assistant Fede...
May 24, 2022•24 min
A free press, ideally, learns what is happening in our democracy and passes that information on to us. How, then, do we learn the truth about this country when there’s so much misinformation, so many opinions, claims of fake news and widespread mistrust of the truth? Joining us again for part 2 are Melissa Wasser and Erin Coyle . This episode first aired in October of 2020. Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of...
May 17, 2022•25 min
The only working-class job enshrined in the Bill of Rights, a free press is essential to the health of the democracy. The citizens deserve to know what’s going on, so the framers made sure that news could be printed and information disseminated. But how does the press actually do that? Are they upholding their end of the bargain? What does the best version of the press and the news look like? Helping us report this one out are Melissa Wasser , Michael Luo and Erin Coyle . This episode originally...
May 17, 2022•22 min
The blocking of a majority-Black congressional district in Alabama. OSHA regulations requiring vaccinations or a negative COVID test result. A law in Texas banning abortions after six weeks. All of these controversial issues were decided not through the tried-and-true method of a hearing in the Supreme Court, but rather through a system called "the shadow docket," orders from the court that are (often) unsigned, inscrutable, and handed down in the middle of the night. Professor Stephen Vladeck t...
May 10, 2022•23 min
This is an episode about a case, a couple of cases in fact, that no longer carry the force of Constitutional law. This episode was made when the essential holding of Roe v Wade still stood. That is no longer the case. It’s a rare occurrence for the Supreme Court to overturn a decision outright, especially a landmark decision, but that is indeed what happened on Friday, June 24th shortly after 10 AM, 2022. Listen to this episode to get an understanding of why Roe and Casey happened in the first p...
May 03, 2022•30 min
