Your Weekly Constitutional

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, inspiring, and poignant tale about a woman who really does deserve her own day.

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 National Strategic Planner for Protect the Harvest, and Bob Martin, the Director of Food System Policy at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

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 naturalization. But what about that pesky Fourteenth Amendment? Could guest workers effectively waive the rights of their unborn children to citizenship? Congress could certainly pass a law to that effect, but it would certainly be challenged. No doubt some children of guest workers would eventually object to the denial of what they would consider their constitutional birthright. Join us for a timely and controversial discussion.

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 how modern Americans view their most basic law.

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.