Season 3, Episode 41 (Show 145): Eleven Presidents – Special Guest Bob Woodward

October 4, 2023

In an extraordinary 90 minutes, Bob Woodward offers a perspective on the Presidency, the Supreme Court, and the nation and its Constitution from a perch of experience and objectivity that we may never see again.  NOTE: Lawyers and Judges – Visit podcast.njsba.com for CLE credit after listening.

The career of America’s greatest investigative reporter has spanned more than 50 years, and Bob Woodward has told the stories of eleven presidents, the Supreme Court, the Intelligence Community, and indeed the American political system with a penetrating, persistent drive towards the truth. (LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.) Today this titan spends 90 minutes with us, and the insights continue to pour out of him. One can’t help but see Nixon at one end and Trump near the other; Woodward certainly sees them, and even with his ever-present professional distance and restraint, it’s powerful to hear the most deeply informed perspective there has ever been on the Constitution’s most ambitious creation – the Presidency – and the extraordinarily aberrant occupants of that office.

Show Notes:

How to get Continuing Legal Education Credit for listening!

Virtually all lawyers and judges admitted to practice anywhere in the USA can obtain CLE (Continuing Legal Education) credit after listening to this episode by visiting podcast.njsba.com.  You do not have to be a New Jersey lawyer or resident or admitted to the NJ Bar; essentially every state has reciprocity arrangements with New Jersey.  When you visit the site you fill out a form and provide the code Andy read during the episode, pay a small fee, and within two weeks you will receive the certificate from New Jersey.  It couldn’t be easier.  Thanks to the New Jersey Bar Association for making this possible!  Note, too, that other podcast episodes from our “back catalog” now qualify for this credit as well.  See notes below on this.

Click to go to the website for CLE credit

Applications and Implications of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment - Akhil Reed Amar

Professor Amar delivered the Frankel Lecture at the University of Houston Law Center in 2009, and that became this article which explores how the 25th Amendment might actually play out in various situations.  In this week’s podcast Bob Woodward discusses his reporting on the interactions the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had with the Speaker of the House in a situation where the President’s fitness and possible actions were uncertain; we speculate on how this might relate to the 25th.  This article takes such considerations seriously.

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Some Opinions on the Opinion Clause - Akhil Reed Amar

In Bob Woodward’s reporting on the precarious situation after the January 6th events, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs claims a duty “by law” to offer his opinion in certain situations which seemed more likely to arise than usual in this dangerous period.  What, then, is the constitutional role of opinion-offering, or opinion-taking?  Professor Amar has written on this as well, it turns out.  Here he offers “Some Opinions on the Opinion Clause,” in 82 Va. L. Rev. 647 (1996).

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Nixon's Shadow - Akhil Reed Amar

One would be foolish to ignore the subject of Nixon and his effect on the presidency and the jurisprudence related to Presidential conduct when given the opportunity to speak with Bob Woodward, so of course we go there.  So, too, did Professor Amar in this important article from 1999 in the Minnesota Law Review. Issues of special prosecutors, executive privilege, and of course, a crook in the White House parade before us, and a cast of characters that includes Aaron Burr appear.

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