Season 2, Episode 35 (Show 87): Afraid to Ask: Hamilton and A Wealth Tax
August 24, 2022
Are we a Republic or a Democracy? Yes, Akhil says on MSNBC – more on that here. Then, we go back to the 1700’s for the most important case of that century – with big implications for our century as well.
Following Akhil’s MSNBC appearance on “Velshi,” we elaborate on how a Republic is a Democracy. Does it matter – oh yes, and we explain why. Then we go back to the future – to the biggest Supreme Court case of the 18th century, with rock star Alexander Hamilton arguing, and the echoes resonate today. So why haven’t you heard of this case? Well, now you will, and follow a step-by-step explanation you won’t find anywhere else.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 34 (Show 86): Search-A-Lago
August 17, 2022
Perhaps inevitably, Mar-A-Lago has been searched, and apparently blockbuster papers have been seized. Our analysis will challenge everything you thought you knew about the Fourth Amendment.
CLE credit is available after listening to this episode by visiting podcast.njsba.com.
Ex-President Trump’s residence – or is it his club? – of Mar-A-Lago was searched, and US government papers seized, pursuant to a search warrant which has since been made public. Warrants, papers, searches, seizures – all words found in the Fourth Amendment. We take the opportunity to upend what every American thinks they understand: that searches require warrants, that probable cause is a must, that failure to heed these dictates means the fruits of the search will be suppressed. Professor Amar presents an entirely different way of thinking about the 4th Amendment, and when he is done, you will wonder how you ever thought about it any other way. Armed with this understanding, we then turn to Palm Beach and assess the Justice Department’s actions in this light.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 33 (Show 85): Originalism on Trial
August 10, 2022
The Supreme Court has declared itself an originalist Court. We use actual cases to put originalism through its paces: myths and truths, critiques and methods.
The recent Supreme Court term gave rise to a virtual anointment of originalism, as the Court in case after case declared originalism the approach and method that determined the result. Professor Amar has spent a career on originalism, and that expertise is employed here to respond to these developments. We begin a look at the great cases and controversies of American history, and through them, we define an originalism that has a clear method, recognizes its own limits, responds to critiques, and is consistent with a recognizable America – not an America with a Constitution and a jurisprudence for liberals or for conservatives alone.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 32 (Show 84): Time is Now
August 3, 2022
Akhil is in the news, making news, and “unpacking” the news on the Court. We look back 23 years and ahead 18.
Events continue to unfold, causing us to look back, forward, inward, and outward. A new bill is introduced which takes us back 20 years and ahead 18 years. Professor Amar conducts an unprecedented interview – maybe we shouldn’t use that term – and you are there. A moot court from 23 years ago reappears in the present. And lessons from nearly 250 years ago will unfold in the next year – and affect us forever. Professor Amar unwraps this scroll.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 31 (Show 83): Tackling Kennedy
July 27, 2022
A long line of Establishment Clause cases has brought us to the gridiron, as a coach flamboyantly asserts the primacy of his rights, even as he represents the State. Professor Amar takes us through this long and fascinating line of cases.
Our tour through the late-term Supreme Court cases now runs through the football field where Coach Kennedy sits praying on the 50 yard line. Professor Amar calls the play – a run through the string of cases that took the Court to this point by way of Abington and progeny. We wind up in this fact-specific case with turns and twists, and detours through the pledge of allegiance and an old Missouri case along the way. It’s a master law school class in case analysis, and we aren’t so sure that the majority passed.
Show Notes:
Season 2, Episode 30 (Show 82): Separate or Equal
July 20, 2022
Next up on the hit parade from the end of the SCOTUS term is the school voucher case from Maine, Carson v. Makin. Professor Amar looks at the history, and the series of cases that deal with the “wall of separation” concept; Carson then lines up neatly.
CLE credit is available by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.
Our review of the major cases decided at or near the end of the recent Supreme Court term continues with Carson v. Makin, The case immediately brings to mind the often-invoked metaphor of the “wall of separation” between church and state. Professor Amar takes us back to the Founding and the origin of this meme, and in so doing, gives us an originalist analysis of the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment. By now our listeners should know the next step, as the Reconstruction must be brought in. When we have finished looking at the text, the history, and the structure of the Constitution and its amendments, the case itself falls neatly into place.
(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visitingpodcast.njsba.com after listening.)