Your Weekly Constitutional

Steven Waldman has been writing about religion and spirituality for a long time. He is the co-founder of Beliefnet, a website devoted to such issues. More recently, he has written a book about the history of religious freedom in the United States. It’s called Sacred Liberty. Join us for a spirited, and spiritual, discussion.

Recently, Montpelier installed a time machine in the Potter Family Studios. Stewart had the honor of being the first to try it. So, of course, he set his dials for the founding era, and, of course, his first guest was James Madison. With a little assistance from Colonial Williamsburg interpreter Bryan Austin, Stewart had a delightful conversation set in two pivotal years: 1776 and 1787. Then Bryan broke character to tell us about his exciting career and the unlikely path that led him to Williamsburg.

Birds migrate. So do monarch butterflies. And so do constitutions. So says A.E. "Dick" Howard, the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. And he should know--over the past fifty years, whenever constitutional ideas migrated from the United States to other countries, Dick Howard seemed to be there.

We finish our two-part interview with our go-to guy on all things Brexit, British barrister William Walton of the University of Hertfordshire. Will Brexit happen, despite the lack of an agreement with the EU? What about Ireland? What about Scotland? What about Wales? Is the UK on the verge of a breakup? Will the world economy crash? With Parliament suspended, is democracy in Britain dead? Think we’re overstating it? Think again.

The Queen has suspended Parliament at the request of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Is this the end of British democracy? Or just another quirk of that fascinating, amorphous thing called the British Constitution? We talk to our go-to guy on all things Brexit, William Walton.

Matthew Reeves, the Director of Archaeology at James Madison's Montpelier, tells us about his next big project: the reconstruction of the overseer's cabin. Montpelier doesn't hide its history as a slave plantation. It's one reason we're so very honored to associated with James and Dolley's historic home.

Josh Douglas teaches at the University of Kentucky, where he studies voting in the United States. Despite the current political environment, he sees lots of good being done. He’s written about it in a new book, Vote for US, in which he tells the stories of people who are working in their communities to secure voting rights for themselves and their fellow citizens. Join us for an inspiring conversation.

Is the ban on military service for transgender people unconstitutional? Eric Merriam thinks so. He’s a law professor at the University of Central Florida who previously worked for the Air Force, both as a Judge Advocate General Corps officer and as a professor at the Air Force Academy. He thinks the ban, allegedly justified by something called “unit cohesion,” is actually based upon unconstitutional animus aimed at trans people.

What’s up with all the new laws on abortion? What do they contain? Why now? Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University, has written several books on abortion. She puts everything in historical context, and speculates on what might happen next. Trigger warning: this episode includes some explicit discussion. It may not be appropriate for younger listeners.

Does the Supreme Court need saving? Ganesh Sitaraman thinks so. He teaches constitutional law at Vanderbilt University, and, like many of us, he is troubled by current political challenges to the Supreme Court’s legitimacy. Unlike most of us, however, he has some concrete proposals to save it. He and co-author Daniel Epps have put their ideas into writing in an article that will soon appear in the Yale Law Journal. As Stewart points out, some of the proposals in the article are pretty radical, but Ganesh has thoughtful and interesting arguments in favor of them. Join us for a deep dive into the highest court in the land.

A year before Little Rock, twelve brave African-American students in Clinton, Tennessee, participated in the first court-ordered integration of an all-white high school after Brown v. Board of Education. Retired attorney Jerry Shattuck, who was a student at Clinton High at the time, tells the tale. This one will bring tears to your eyes.

Ever since the release of the Mueller Report, we’ve all been hearing about something called “obstruction of justice.” But what, precisely, does that mean? And what is this thing called the "OLC" that apparently prevented an indictment of Donald Trump, regardless of the evidence against him? Former federal prosecutor Benjamin Vernia enlightens us.

Many people bemoan the growing gaps in wealth and income in our country, as well as their negative effects on our political discourse and our trust in our government. Akram Faizer has some concrete proposals to fix at least part of the problem. Some of his proposals are quite controversial. All of them are interesting.

You’re young, innocent, female. Perhaps 18 years old. You’re walking down the street in your hometown on a fine spring day. A car pulls to the curb. A man gets out. He has a gun. And a badge. “Come with me,” he says. “Why?” You think perhaps someone has been hurt. “You’re under arrest.” “What? Why?” The cop gives you a hard look. “Suspicion of promiscuity.” Seems unlikely, doesn’t it? Laughable. But it’s no joke. Such things really happened, and not so long ago, to thousands of American women. One of those women was Nina McCall. Author Scott W. Stern tells us all about it.

Professor Pat Baker of the University of Tennessee at Martin has noticed something troubling about small private colleges. They’re closing down. At an alarming rate. Why is this? And is there anything we can do about it? Some people have tried lawsuits, but the courts haven’t been very helpful, for a couple of very constitutional reasons.

Linda Monk has been on our show before, to discuss her wonderful books, "The Words We Live By" and "The Bill of Rights: A User's Guide." She was also this year's keynote speaker at Montpelier's celebration of Presidents' Day, where she confessed to Stewart that she has a longtime crush on James Madison.

Since the Democrats overwhelmed the House of Representatives with their Blue Wave, there’s been a lot of talk about investigations and hearings. Investigations and hearings and even impeachment are part of something called “congressional oversight” of the Executive. Dean Ronald Weich of the University of Baltimore’s law school tells us all about some common myths and misperceptions about this very important part of constitutional checks and balances.

Andrew Boyle works for the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. He and Stewart start at the very beginning of a very current issue: What, precisely, constitutes a “national emergency?” Who gets to declare one? And what happens then? Specifically, can Donald Trump use the powers granted to the Executive during a national emergency to build his wall? He’ll face a fair amount of resistance, and Andrew and Stewart consider the various forms it might take.

Justin Driver is a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is concerned about the extent to which public school students are paddled, searched, stifled and otherwise denied their constitutional rights. He’s so concerned that he's written a book about it called "The Schoolhouse Gate." Recently, he sat down with Stewart to talk about it.

We haven't heard much from the Supreme Court lately on the Second Amendment. That may soon change. So the Law Review at Lincoln Memorial University’s law school decided to host a symposium, bringing together leading Second Amendment scholars from around the country. Two of the scholars at the symposium sat down with Stewart to share their contrasting views. We'll hear from Stephen Halbrook, a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, and Robert Spitzer, a Distinguished Service Professor at the State University of New York-Cortland.