Your Weekly Constitutional

Well, he’s at it again: Beelzebub and his minions are showing up at public buildings, demanding equal space with other religious displays. Doesn't this guy ever quit? Our First Amendment Guy, Doug McKechnie, tells us all about it. He and Stewart also talk about some other current First Amendment issues.

“Tort Reform” takes many different forms. One way to “reform” tort law is to limit the damages that a plaintiff may receive, regardless of what the judge or jury considers appropriate. Recently, however, a federal court held that Tennessee’s limitation on tort damages violates the state’s constitution. Tennessee lawyer Tony Seaton tells us about the big stir this decision is creating, especially among personal injury lawyers. Then, on a more pastoral subject, we speak with our buddy Kat Imhoff about Montpelier's efforts to conserve James Madison's natural legacy. Join us!

Prohibition is a very constitutional subject, the focus of both the 18th and the 21st Amendments. Howard Wooldridge of Citizens Opposed to Prohibition joins us, again, to update us on his increasingly successful efforts to end the prohibition of marijuana at both the state and – drum roll, please – the federal levels. Yep, you heard that right. Howard thinks that the federal prohibition of the wacky weed will soon end. Join us for a mellow conversation.

Hilarie Hicks, a senior researcher at Montpelier, often encounters “hard history,” that is, history that we don’t necessarily like to think about. At Montpelier, most of the hard history involves slavery, which is featured prominently throughout the estate. But not everyone is happy about that. A number of visitors leave rather critical messages on the comment cards that Hilarie collects. She and Montpelier’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Price Thomas, share some of those comments with us.

Jennifer Wilkoski Glass has one of the coolest jobs in the world: she’s part architect, part detective. She figures out what buildings used to look like, what they were made of, how they were constructed . . . and then she rebuilds them. Join us as Jennifer shares her experiences and future plans at James Madison's Montpelier.

Colleges and universities are supposed to be dedicated to the generation and dissemination of knowledge. They can’t accomplish that mission without academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. Lately, however, there has been growing resistance to the idea of free speech on campus, often for very good reasons: the desire for diversity and inclusion of underrepresented or oppressed groups. How do we balance these sometimes-conflicting values? Well, we can begin by talking about them, and that’s just what Stewart did with students, faculty and administrators from Appalachian State University at ASU’s annual event, “Say What?”

The Blue Wave that recently swept over the House of Representatives and a number of state legislatures was powered largely by women, and resulted in a number of new elected officials who look a lot less white and a lot less male than their predecessors. Author Sayu Bhojwani anticipated this phenomenon in her new book, People Like Us: The New Wave of Candidates Knocking at Democracy’s Door. Join us for an interesting take on the changes in our republic that are taking place before our very eyes.

Remember the ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment proposed in the Seventies designed to guarantee equal rights for women? It was never ratified — at least not so far. But a group of feminists in Virginia is determined to change that, and they feel like they’re getting close. Stewart discusses this exciting new development with Kati Hornung of VAratifyERA, after setting the scene with an excerpt from a 2012 interview with Knoxville attorney Wanda Sobieski.

Why preserve a presidential home? Because history? Well, okay, that makes sense. But why a particular president's home? Why make the enormous effort, financial and otherwise? Dennis Kernahan is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Montpelier Foundation, the nonprofit that preserves and operates James Madison’s home. Recently, Dennis sat down with Stewart to discuss the Board’s role, particularly its vision for what Montpelier is and should be. Join us for a thoughtful and enlightening discussion.

Montpelier recently commissioned a national survey on the Constitution--not to measure our constitutional literacy, but to figure out what parts of the Constitution are working, and which parts aren't. The results, which can be broken down by race, gender, and income, are illuminating. Stewart sits down with Francois Baird, a member of Montpelier's Board of Directors, and Price Thomas, Montpelier's Director of Communications, to talk about it.

Montpelier's African American Descendants' Project seeks to identify and create bridges to living descendants of the African American women and men who were enslaved at Montpelier and elsewhere in Orange County, Virginia. Hannah Scruggs is an important part of the project. In addition to her research skills, she brings her heritage: she is a descendant of a nearby enslaved community. In this episode, she shares her experiences, professional and personal, with Stewart.

Article II of the Constitution gives the President virtually unfettered authority over foreign affairs and the conduct of war. Franklin Roosevelt certainly used that power to maximum effect before and during World War II. One overlooked theater of that war is far more important than most Americans realize: Latin America. Author Mary Jo McConahay describes President Roosevelt’s decade-long dance with the Axis Powers and their Latin American sympathizers in her new book, The Tango War. Join us for a fascinating discussion, chock full of stories, revelations, and unexpected characters—from Nelson Rockefeller to Mickey Mouse.

Brian Dirck, a historian from Anderson University, was 2018's R. Gerald McMurtry Lecturer at Lincoln Memorial University's Duncan School of Law. Brian tells us about what he refers to as Lincoln’s Golden Apple—the idealism that motivated Lincoln’s practical politics.

Melanie Reid teaches criminal law and procedure at Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law. Recently, she wrote an article on a surprisingly complicated topic: double jeopardy. You’ve heard of it, but, chances are, you don’t fully understand it. Neither did Stewart. But Melanie explained it to him. She'll explain it to you, too.

If you’re accused of a crime and you can’t afford a lawyer, you have a right to a state-appointed public defender. But what happens if you get into non-criminal legal trouble, like a landlord-tenant case or a property dispute? Who you gonna call? Legal Aid. Dave Yoder, the former Executive Director of Legal Aid of East Tennessee, tells us all about this important organization. But Legal Aid can’t do it alone. It needs the assistance of dedicated private attorneys, attorneys like Tony Seaton of Johnson City, Tennessee who joins us to discuss what he calls Access to Justice.

You may never have heard of Elbert Williams. We aim to fix that. Because Elbert Williams deserves to be remembered. He was the very first member of the NAACP to be killed for his efforts in the modern civil rights movement. No one even knows where he’s buried. Retired Tennessee trial attorney Jim Emison has devoted years to finding Elbert and telling his story. Join us for a poignant and inspiring tale.

Some controversies never die. Soon after James Madison published his notes on the Constitutional Convention -- the most complete and thorough account of that secret proceeding -- his political rivals accused him of slanting his version of events. In a recent book, Mary Bilder of Harvard University published what she claimed was new evidence that Madison's editing was more than just editing. Two Madison scholars, Jonathan Gienapp of Stanford University, and Lynn Uzzell, the former Scholar in Residence at Montpelier, tell us about the continuing debate.

As James Madison noted in 1822: "Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." So it's pretty obvious why we’ve interviewed best-selling author James Loewen several times. This time, we’re talking about the re-issue of his most famous book, in which he tells us “Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.”

The Goldwater Rule prohibits psychiatrists and psychologists from diagnosing anyone unless they have examined the patient personally. But some health care professionals insist that another ethical concept trumps the Goldwater Rule: the duty to warn others if a patient is a threat. The “patient” in question is Donald Trump, and these professionals have decided to warn the world that he is dangerously mentally ill. They’ve even written a book: Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump. We hear from both sides on this contentious issue: Dr. Charles Dike of Yale, who defends the Goldwater Rule, and Dr. John Gartner, who taught for many years at Johns Hopkins, and who is one of the founders of the group Duty to Warn.

LMU Law School's Professor William Gill continues his update of immigration issues, telling us about his own experiences representing migrants caught up in ICE raids in Morristown, Tennessee.