Constitutional scholar Linda Monk has published an updated edition of a book that provides a concise history and overview of some of the most important and cherished of our constitutional rights, including stories of ordinary people who brought those rights to life. Join us for some constitutional inspiration.
Immigration is much in the news (and in the courts) this year. Indeed, there is so much to discuss that we're devoting two episodes to our annual update. In Part One, Stewart speaks with Professor William Gill of Lincoln Memorial University’s law school about the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Muslim Ban. They also discuss the separation of migrant families at the U.S. border.
Most of us focus so much upon the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court that we sometimes forget that there is more than one constitution in the United States. There are fifty-one constitutions, to be precise, one for the national government, and one for each of the fifty state governments. Jeffrey Sutton, a federal appellate judge, has written a timely new book reminding us of the importance of those fifty state constitutions, and of the state courts that interpret them.
Doug McKechnie, who teaches constitutional law at the United States Air Force Academy, has just written a law review article in which he neither praises nor condemns Donald Trump's tweets. Instead, he suggests that, love 'em or hate 'em, those tweets have small-d democratic value.
Lacy Ward, Jr., of the John Marshal Foundation, tells us about Barbara Johns, a sixteen-year-old girl who, in 1951, led a student walkout to protest her separate, and very unequal, public high school in Prince Edward County, Virgina. After leading the walkout, Barbara Johns contacted the NAACP, which took her case all the way to the Supreme Court, where it eventually became part of Brown v. Board of Education. Virginia has now designated April 23 as Barbara Johns Day. Join us for a fascinating, ...
Matt Reeves, Montpelier’s Director of Archaeology & Landscape Restoration, tells us how he is using a new technology, Light Detection And Ranging, or LIDAR, to peer beneath the forest canopy and find traces of the past that have been hidden for centuries. After we finish with Matt, we’ll talk about a controversy over California’s ban on small, “battery” cages for chickens, and how that ban affects interstate commerce -- and how Congress may soon respond. Our guests are Dave Duquette, the Nat...
Professors William Walton and Tony Storey of the University of Northumbria recently brought some of their British and European law students to Montpelier. After a tour and a discussion of the First Amendment, Stewart invited the students into the Potter Family Studios to ask them about their impressions of the United States and its Constitution. Stories, insights, and a bit of hilarity ensued.
The Supreme Court is deciding three major cases this year involving the constitutional limits of police searches of things from motorcycles to cell phone records. Professor James Stern of William and Mary’s law school brings us up to date.
William Walton and Tony Storey from the University of Northumbria join us for an intriguing discussion of what's happening with Brexit, two years after Britons voted to go their own way. It turns out that breaking up is hard to do.
Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on immigration. The problem is that those opinions are often diametrically opposed. Enter Stewart's colleague at Lincoln Memorial University’s Law School, Akram Faizer. Akram recently published an intriguing article in the Tennessee Law Review in which he suggests that conservatives and liberals might be able to agree on a policy employed by other nations: a much-expanded guest-worker and asylum program -- without a path to either permanent residency or natural...
The Curator at Montpelier, Teresa Teixeira, tells us all about the ongoing treasure hunt for James and Dolley Madisons’ furniture, books, and other belongings, most of which were sold after their deaths. Teresa’s found quite a few items already, but the hunt continues.
Mary Anne Franks teaches constitutional law at the University of Miami. She’s noticed that some people don’t just admire the Constitution, they worship it. Or, at least they worship the parts that they like, parts like the First and Second Amendments. But there are lots of parts of the Constitution, and many of them are, arguably, just as important as the First and Second Amendments. How should we balance them all? Join Mary Anne and Stewart for a fascinating and enlightening conversation about ...
Elizabeth Chew is the Vice President of Museum Programs at James Madison's Montpelier. In this episode, she joins Stewart in the Potter Family Studios to talk about what Montpelier has done with patriotic philanthropist David Rubenstein's recent ten-million-dollar gift. Short version: a lot, including reconstruction of several slave quarters and the creation of a remarkable new exhibit, "The Mere Distinction of Colour."
Breaks Interstate Park, the "Grand Canyon of the South," was formed by a compact between the Commonwealths of Kentucky and Virginia. And as Park Director Austin Bradley tells us, that compact required congressional approval. Austin also tells us about an upcoming PBS documentary on the park. You won't want to miss it, especially since it includes Stewart's movie debut. Join us!
Jason Silverman has done something rare: he's actually found something new to say about Abraham Lincoln. Jason is the Ellison Capers Palmer, Jr. Professor of History, Emeritus, at Winthrop University. His new book, "Lincoln and the Immigrant," explores Lincoln's attitudes and actions toward those who made their way to our shores in the mid-Nineteenth Century. This is history, of course, but Jason thinks that perhaps Lincoln has something to say to us about immigration today....
You meet the nicest people at Montpelier. That definitely includes Harvard Law School Professor Noah Feldman, who has just published a new, comprehensive biography of James Madison. Noah recently sat down with Stewart in the Potter Family Studios at Montpelier, and talked all about Madison's life. As a bonus, Noah's son, Jaemin, joined the conversation -- and he didn't always agree with Dad.
Recently, the Federal Communications Commission reversed an Obama-era regulation requiring something called “net neutrality.” What, precisely, is “net neutrality,” and how might it affect free speech? Turns out, nobody’s sure, but it could be “a lot.” We’ll speak with Roy Gutterman, the Director of Syracuse University’s Tully Center for Free Speech. We'll also speak with Daniel Lyons of Boston College Law School.
Recently, the Court of Appeals of New York rejected a constitutional challenge to that state’s prohibition of physician-assisted suicide. Should you have the right to kill yourself? Or, more specifically, should you have the right to do so with the assistance of a physician? We’ll speak with Norman Cantor, an Emeritus professor from Rutgers Law School, who is sharply critical of the New York court’s decision, and with Samantha Crane, from an organization called Not Dead Yet, who supports it....
Several lawsuits are moving through the courts, claiming that the President has violated something called the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution. But what, precisely are these Emoluments Clauses? And how has the President allegedly violated them? We’ll speak with two experts, on opposite sides of the issue: Jed Shugerman of Fordham Law School, and Josh Blackman of the South Texas College of Law in Houston.
Are we good, or evil, or perhaps both? We’ll speak with Professor Alan Gibson of California State University at Chico, about James Madison’s views on human nature, and how those views affected the way he designed our national constitution.
The Me Too movement has prompted sudden and dramatic changes in American society, most of them for the good. But does it also have a dark side? We’ll hear from two professors, Michele Goodwin, of UC-Irvine, who recently wrote in the Huffington Post about her experiences trying to report sexual harassment as a young law professor, and KC Johnson, a historian from Brooklyn College, who is concerned about due process for the accused.
Among the best aspects of our relationship with Montpelier is that it gives us frequent contact with brilliant minds. Among the most brilliant is Jack Rakove, a Madison scholar at Stanford University and a member of Montpelier's Board. Jack has published a new book, "A Politician Thinking: The Creative Mind of James Madison." Recently, he and Stewart sat down at the Potter Family Studios at Montpelier and talked about it. Join us for a fascinating discussion.
The notorious Kelo decision was handed down more than a decade ago, giving states and localities broad powers of eminent domain. But states have, largely, turned their back on that power -- or claim to have done so. We’ll speak with Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, who’ll bring us up to date on whether the government might take our homes and give them to someone else. We’ll also speak to Patrick Baker of the University of Tennessee at Martin, who will tell us about an emer...
The President, our Commander-in-Chief, has the ultimate authority over whether to use nuclear weapons. Lately, some people are wondering whether vesting so much power in one person is such a good idea. We speak with Peter D. Feaver, a Duke professor who recently testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on this very subject. We also speak with Stephen I. Schwartz, the former Publisher and Executive Director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
There are many laws regulating advertising. But, wait – advertising is speech. Isn’t such speech protected by the First Amendment? How does the government get away with regulating it? The government even regulates how people describe themselves, at least professionally. It's typically illegal, for example, to call yourself a doctor or a lawyer unless you've actually gone through some sort of licensing process. But, again, don't you have a right to describe yourself as you see fit? Attorney Mary ...
In the constitutional sense, we mean. Everyone knows that it’s an island, but what is its status under U.S. law? And how did it obtain that status? And what happens next? We speak with Professor Harry Franqui-Rivera, who teaches history at Bloomfield College.
After the tragedy in Charlottesville, many people are calling for limitations on “hate speech.” But, what, exactly, is hate speech? And can the government do anything about it? Stewart speaks with two experts: Eugene Volokh, the creator of "The Volokh Conspiracy," a legal blog hosted by the Washington Post, and Richard Delgado, one of the founders of “critical race theory."
The Second Amendment protects our right to keep and bear arms. But what, exactly, does that mean? And has anything changed since the tragedy in Las Vegas? Stewart speaks with historian Saul Cornell of Fordham University, an expert on the early history of the Constitution, and with Professor James Jacobs of New York University, who questions whether gun control can ever work.
Immigration is a very constitutional issue, as well a matter of great political debate. Sometimes, we forget that it is also a human issue. Join us as Stewart speaks with three students at the Duncan School of Law at Lincoln Memorial University who came to this country at a very young age. Their stories are poignant, inspiring, and sometimes terrifying.
Each year, the Abraham Lincoln Institute for the Study of Leadership and Public Policy at Lincoln Memorial University hosts the R. Gerald McMurtry Memorial Lecture at LMU's Duncan School of Law. This year, the topic was Reconstruction, and the focus was Tennessee. Our McMurtry Lecturer was Sam D. Elliott, a lawyer and Civil War historian from Chattanooga. Sam was joined by Professor Stewart Harris, who spoke about secession, and by Dr. Charles Hubbard, who described Abraham Lincoln's many ethica...
