Season 2, Episode 1 (Show 53): 80 Years in 80 Minutes: A Special Live Episode
January 5, 2022
Amidst the unreality of a pandemic book tour, Amarica’s Constitution goes in front of a live audience for something strange and wonderful these days – a real in-person book talk, speeding through the revolutionary period and whetting your appetite with historical and constitutional tidbits galore, to the delight of the crowd, and now, you.
Amarica’s Constitution takes to the road, as the Yale Club of the Palm Beaches, Florida, hosts us with a live audience of constitutional aficionados! The long-delayed book tour of “The Words That Made Us” finally assumes a recognizable form, as Akhil gives a whirlwind tour of the first 80 years of America’s Constitutional Conversation. Aside from a sense of the book, you should come away from this episode knowing 20-30 things you either didn’t know, or wrongly understood before. The audience then questions Professor Amar from founding to Trump – literally, as no holds are barred.
Episode 52: The Year That Was, and Your Questions
December 29, 2021
2022 in review, including clips from Bob Woodward, Neal Katyal, Philip Bobbitt, and more. Plus, Professor Amar responds to your questions!
Amarica’s Constitution celebrates one year of podcasting, and what a year it was. From the steps of the Capitol to the bench of the Court, we were there with coverage and analysis. In this episode we replay clips from, among others, Bob Woodward, Philip Bobbitt, and Neal Katyal, as they discussed and debated everything from impeachment to abortion with Akhil and Andy. And, as long promised, your questions submitted throughout the year are answered!
Show Notes:
Episode 51: Roberts Court, or Trump Court? A Conversation with Linda Greenhouse
December 22, 2021
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, author, and Yale Law School colleague of Professor Amar, Linda Greenhouse, joins us for a discussion of the Court, and its possible moment of truth, identified in her latest book, “Justice on the Brink.” Meanwhile, SCOTUS keeps making news, and we (this time with Linda’s help) keep clarifying it.
The Supreme Court is still in the news, with vaccine mandate follies and more, and we continue to be there to help you decipher it. This week, our timing is perfect: the long-time, Pulitzer-winning NY Times correspondent, now columnist, Linda Greenhouse, joins us for a discussion of the Court and her new book: “Justice on the Brink: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months that Transformed the Supreme Court.” In light of Justice Breyer’s retirement issues (and how RBG’s retirement echoes loudly), the current torrent of impactful cases, and our recent commentary and other guests, this couldn’t be more timely. Linda’s book prepares us to ask if the Roberts Court is gone and the Trump Court arrived – and now we can begin to answer the question, as the Court slowly unveils its character. Best of all, you can find out what all this has to do with an iguana.
Show Notes:
Episode 50: The Court Astonishes – Special Guest Ed Whelan
December 15, 2021
Our 50th episode finds the Supreme Court not quite done with abortion controversies, as two rulings on Texas’ “SB8” law drop – as does Akhil’s jaw, and that of our guest, long-time legal commentator Ed Whelan.
Amarica’s Constitution is 50 – 50 episodes, that is. The Supreme Court isn’t done with abortion yet, as it marks our “silver episode” unveiling with a pair of rulings on the Texas abortion law, SB8. The rulings themselves may not be long remembered, but the opinions contained sentences that shocked Professor Amar. In a happy coincidence, the Friday rulings coincided with a Friday taping, and we happened to have a special guest – Ed Whelan, creator of the well-known “Bench Memos” legal blog and Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. We dissect the very revealing statements by Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Sotomayor, and others, on an eventful day.
Show Notes:
Episode 49: Roe Roe Roe – Stare and Stenchy
December 8, 2021
Following our two weeks of preparation and prediction, Professor Amar dissects last week’s oral argument in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health abortion case.
The oral argument is complete in the Mississippi abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. In our previous two episodes, Professor Amar prepared our audience with a remarkable menu of constitutional theory, a recap of the relevant cases and the orientation of the justices. We now look at the actual argument and find where it cohered with Akhil’s notions. We critique the arguments, the advocates, and the arbiters, and discuss arguments that might have been made. Was precedent the theme, and did it have to be? The voices of the justices, inserted in our podcast, put you right there, with Akhil as your guide.
Show Notes:
Episode 48: The Future of the Past
December 1, 2021
It’s oral argument time in the abortion case at hand, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Professor Amar pinpoints and dissects the legal terrain upon which the battle will be fought – and it is actually not abortion at all.
Fifty years of controversial jurisprudence have followed Roe v. Wade, and now the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case that many see as this story’s reckoning: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In our last episode Professor Amar identified “precedent” as the legal coordinates where the abortion road may fork. He now lays out the conflicting theories of precedent which the informed citizen needs to command when following this case. i Listeners to this episode will be armed with the tools to decipher today’s oral argument and tomorrow’s decision/opinion; indeed, in the briefs attached to this week’s “Show Notes,” both sides make arguments that will sound familiar to listeners to this podcast. One can only hope that the Justices are as informed as Amarica’s Constitution’s audience.