Season 5, Episode 26 (Show 235): Firing Line, Then and Now – Special Guests US Rep. Jamie Raskin, and Author Sam Tanenhaus

July 16, 2025

We interview probably the greatest constitutional expert in Congress today, Representative Raskin.  And fittingly, we chat with Sam Tanenhaus, the biographer of one of the greatest interviewers of all time, William F. Buckley.

CLE Credit Available for this episode from podcast.njsba.com.

Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD 8) was the House manager of the second Trump impeachment in the Senate; is an outstanding constitutional scholar; a long-time law professor; a renowned author; a driving force behind the January 6th committee; and the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.  For the great privilege of interviewing him, we need all the tools a great interviewer would have.  It is therefore appropriate that we also interview Sam Tanenhaus, the biographer, in a new and magisterial work, of William F. Buckley, perhaps the best known and most fearlessly non-partisan in his selection of interview subjects.  Sam Tanenhaus has written the definitive work on Buckley, whose Firing Line project was in some ways an inspiration for our own podcast. 

(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)

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.

Click to go to the website for CLE credit

Legal Aliens, Local Citizens: The Historical, Constitutional And Theoretical Meanings of Alien Suffrage

Then-Professor Jamie Raskin writes a now amazingly timely, and always definitive, law review article on (legal) alien suffrage.

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