In this new podcast, Professor Amar offers weekly in-depth discussions on the most urgent and fascinating constitutional issues of our day. He is joined by host Andy Lipka and frequent guests: other top experts, including Bob Woodward, Neal Katyal, Nina Totenberg, Lawrence Lessig, Michael Gerhardt, and many more.

Season 4, Episode 1 (Show 158): Section Three Punditry: The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

January 3, 2024

The Section Three national debate continues unabated.  We bring you the main arguments through a selection of articles and authors, and evaluate them for you. Akhil also brings several new arguments to the table.

CLE Credit Available for this episode.

The nation awaits the Supreme Court’s seemingly inevitable review of the Section Three case from Colorado, and perhaps Maine as well.  Media around the world is weighing in with editorials and op-Ed’s; a smorgasbord of legal, political, and predictive arguments from professors, editors, elected officials, and others with their own range of expertise.  We continue our attempt to help you make sense of these by choosing pieces that make the range of arguments out there.  We do our best to present their argument and respond to it, bringing Professor Amar’s considerable armamentarium to bear for your benefit.  And this week, Akhil has at least two – maybe three – major new ideas he brings to the national discussion.  They can be found here first.

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

Show Notes:

Season 3, Episode 53 (Show 157): The World Turns to Section Three

December 27, 2023

Now that Trump is (potentially) off the ballot in Colorado, Section Three heads to the Supreme Court.  We wade through the flood of punditry that has landed, and help you navigate the arguments, issues, and the cases to come.

CLE Credit Available for this episode.

The Colorado Supreme Court opinion on disqualifying Donald Trump, though long anticipated, landed like a tornado.  Op-eds, pundits, academics, officials – all are weighing in.  It’s a victory for democracy – no, it’s antidemocratic.  Section Three is a dead letter – no, it’s self-executing.  Trump is out – no, this helps him.  America is reaffirmed – no, there will be violence in the streets. Liberals are split; conservatives are split.  What will the Supreme Court do?  Spend some time with Amarica’s Constitution and we will help you make sense of it, and we will present the best and worst arguments out there.  And – get some CLE for your trouble!

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

Show Notes:

Season 3, Episode 52 (Show 156): Juries, Jarkesy, and a Joke

December 20, 2023

We analyze the recent oral arguments in the SEC v. Jarkesy case, with important 7th amendment and executive branch implications.  And something happened in Colorado.

CLE Credit Available for this episode.

The administrative state is up for grabs, some say, in the case of SEC v. Jarkesy, which was argued before the Supreme Court recently.  We have another “clip” episode, with Akhil weighing in on attorneys and justices alike.  It’s particularly appropriate in this case, because so much of the case concerns juries and the 7th amendment – which, by the way, Akhil has written extensively on.  That’s probably why he’s cited in so many of the briefs.  We also heard some noise out of Colorado, by the way

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

Show Notes:

Season 3, Episode 51 (Show 155): 2 Experts, 3 Courts, Section 3, Part 3 – Special Guests William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen

December 12, 2023

The question of Donald Trump’s disqualification has moved to the Colorado Supreme Court, and after oral argument, we have the two leading experts once again to address the arguments made and how their definitive article on Section 3 has held up.

CLE Credit Available for this episode.

The question of Donald Trump’s disqualification under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is before the courts.  Last week the Colorado Supreme Court heard appeals of the District Court rulings.  As they consider their decision, we have the privilege of hearing from the nation’s two leading experts on the subject, the author of The Sweep and Force of Section Three – the universally acknowledged definitive article. They respond to the arguments made in court, as well as those that have been put forth in media and elsewhere – and we also consider the two other cases, in Michigan and Minnesota. The previous appearance by Profs. Baude and Paulsen were the highest rated episodes in Amarica’s Constitution’s 3 years, and this may be even more important for clerks, judges, and citizens to hear and consider.

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

Show Notes:

Season 3, Episode 50 (Show 154): Sandra the First

December 6, 2023

Our tribute to the late associate justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, wherein we examine her impact both as a pioneer for women on the Court, and a landmark Justice entirely in her own right.   This is not yet another obituary.

CLE Credit Available for this episode.

There is no shortage of tributes to the just passed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and rightly so, and this first female Justice richly deserves praise and memory.  We aim to offer a tribute by taking her seriously as a Justice of ideas as well as the frequently mentioned deeply human remarkable woman she was. Fortunately, Akhil’s career has been intertwined with Justice O’Connor’s in a remarkable back-and-forth of ideas, cases, refinement, and legal innovation, so our perspective is a deeply informative one.  Among other things, we look at the 10 most significant areas of jurisprudential impact in this remarkable but somehow underestimated to the end titan.

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

Show Notes:

Season 3, Episode 49 (Show 153): Sense and Nonsensibility on Section 3 – Special Guests Mark Graber and Gerard Magliocca

November 29, 2023

The Colorado Supreme Court is set to hear the question of the applicability of 14A Section 3 to Donald Trump, and we have the two experts on the very clauses in question for you.

CLE Credit Available for this episode.

Donald Trump’s disqualification for the Presidency under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is on the docket for the Colorado Supreme Court next week.  We have brought the two leading experts on the history of this clause to our podcast.  They have written extensively on the 38th-40th Congresses who passed and first acted under the amendment; on John Bingham, the “James Madison” of the Fourteenth; and they continue to provide pertinent historical details on almost a daily basis.  Professor Magliocca testified in the District Court hearing on this.  Suffice it to say, then, that the best arguments on both sides will be aired here first, before they are heard in Colorado, and you will be the judge today. 

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

Show Notes: