Season 2, Episode 8 (Show 60): Your Turn; Our Take

February 23, 2022

This week the audience takes the helm as the best of your questions, posted on the akhilamar.com website or emailed to us, are answered.  They span the gamut, from Judicial ethics to Younger abstention.  We learned a lot from you, and now we try to return the favor.

We deliver a long-promised episode, as the audience guides the discussion this week with their penetrating questions.  Was Akhil too easy on Mitch McConnell?  How about bringing on expert X or Y?  Should SB8 prompt a new exception to Younger abstention?  Oh, and by the way – what is “Younger abstention?” Can judges be ousted without impeachment?  As you see, we have a very educated audience.  Indeed, once you have completed the podcast, you will find yourselves that much more informed, as these sometimes complex concepts are explained in Akhil’s usual approachable if inimitable way.

Show Notes:

Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Death - Akhil Reed Amar (1995)

This 1995 law review article came out of Professor Amar’s 2/2/94 Congressional Testimony on difficulties with Congressional role in election procedures, among other issues.  48 Ark. L. Rev.  215-238 (1995): “Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Death: Closing the Constitution’s Succession Gap.”

Note that all of Professor Amar’s congressional testimonies are available elsewhere on this website.

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Is the Electoral Count Act Unconstitutional (2002)

Vasan Kesavan authored this article at least in part in response to Akhil’s congressional testimony and article mentioned above: “Is the Electoral Count Act Unconstitutional,” 80 N.C. L. Rev. 1653 (2002).

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Bribery and Other Not so Good Behavior - Maria Simon

On the implications of the “good behavior” language in the Constitution.  Maria Simon, “Bribery and Other Not so “Good Behavior”: Criminal Prosecution as a Supplement to Impeachment of Federal Judges,”  Columbia Law Review, Vol. 94, No. 5 (Jun., 1994), pp. 1617-1673

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Dombrowski - Owen Fish (1977)

Professor Owen Fiss, one of Akhil’s role models, writes a 1977 article detailing a period where the Court appeared to be moving towards greater access to Federal Courts, only to retreat. Related to our discussion of Younger abstention.

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