About this podcast
Professor Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and one of the nation’s leading authorities on the Constitution, offers weekly in-depth discussions on the most urgent and fascinating constitutional issues of our day. He is joined by host Andy Lipka and guests drawn from other top experts including Bob Woodward, Lawrence Lessig, Neal Katyal, Michael Gerhardt, and many more.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 302 episodes
- Preserving Voting, in Booths and on Juries - Special Guest Steven Calabresi · 1 h 29 min · Season 6 Episode 302America hopes for an election, and as it approaches, it feels tenuous, as the President seeks to exert control over ballots and those who would vote. Circuit courts step up; will…
- The Innocent Ham Sandwich · 1 h 11 min · Season 6 Episode 301The election is upon us, and worries about possible anti-democratic actions, especially by those who make wild claims in an attempt to justify extraordinary intrusions into the…
- Friends Reunited, Citizens Divided - with Justice Stephen Breyer · 1 h 33 min · Season 6 Episode 300At the James Otis Lecture at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Professor Amar sat on a panel with (retired) Justice Stephen Breyer, Sarah Isgur, and the moderator, Chris Duggan…
- Delivering Justice - with Judge Patrick Schiltz and Michael Stokes Paulsen · 1 h 16 min · Episode 299This episode features Judge Patrick Schiltz, a deeply respected and honored judge on the US District Court in Minneapolis, interviewed by Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen, long…
- Get Off My Plane - Guests Eugene Volokh and Vikram Amar · 1 h 21 min · Season 6 Episode 298The President has been throwing news organizations out of various places: the White House in general, including the Press Room, and Air Force One. Can he do that? Does it matter…
- Circuit Breaker · 46 min · Season 6 Episode 297The Eighth Circuit is at it again, believe it or not. Despite what appeared to be a clear directive from the Supreme Court to use the 2022 map in the upcoming federal election in…
- The Constitution Goes to Princeton · 1 h 23 min · Season 6 Episode 296It’s Constitution Day, or rather Constitution Eve as we record. Akhil is the invited speaker at Princeton University’s gala event, and ahead of the speech, we invited Princeton…
- More Statesmanship, and State Constitutions - Special Guests Steven B. Smith and Vikram D. Amar · 1 h 44 min · Season 6 Episode 295The big issue in the news today is the Missouri legislature’s attempt to avoid the state constitution’s referendum provisions in order to impose a legislative map that would…
- The Statesman's Constitution - Special Guest Steven B. Smith · 1 h 34 min · Season 6 Episode 294Originalists venerate the Founders, who were by most reckonings a group of remarkable statesmen. Today, many Americans look seemingly in vain for a statesman worthy of the moment…
- An Amendment Like Some Others - Special Guest Vikram D. Amar · 1 h 21 min · Season 6 Episode 293Voting rights are in the news. The state and federal governments have sought to weigh in and intervene on election laws, as we have seen in previous cycles. This time, a number…
- Preclearing the President · 1 h 14 min · Season 6 Episode 292What happens when the president loses in court, even at the Supreme Court, but repeatedly attempts to fight the battle again? New tariffs are offered after the old ones are…
- There You Go Again · 1 h 8 min · Season 6 Episode 291The President did not file for reconsideration of the Court’s decision in Trump v. Barbara, but the President nevertheless doesn’t let the Constitution rest, issuing two new…
- Dobbs and Bruen Plus Time · 1 h 19 min · Season 6 Episode 290As we make our way through the 20 most constitutionally significant cases of the Roberts court, this episode takes us through two cases that have continued to have resonance with…
- Faces of Intratextualism · 1 h 23 min · Season 6 Episode 289We continue our survey of the Roberts Court’s oeuvre of constitutional cases, with particular emphasis on the series of cases that concerned making rules for voting and for…
- The Surprising Score · 1 h 22 min · Season 6 Episode 288The SCOTUS term is behind us, and we take a look back - not just at this term, but at the entirety of the Roberts Court. What are the most important constitutional cases of its…
- Dissenting from the Dissents · 1 h 26 min · Season 6 Episode 287How could the vote in Trump v. Barbara have been as close as it was? Many have been bewildered by the vote in this case, given the strength of the arguments in Chief Justice…
- Unitary Duality - Guests Steven Calabresi and Vikram Amar · 1 h 30 min · Season 6 Episode 286he Supreme Court ruled in two cases framing Unitary Executive theory. So it’s entirely appropriate that we have two great experts on the topic joining us. Steve Calabresi…
- Lincoln's Promise Kept · 1 h 18 min · Season 6 Episode 285America gets a 250th birthday present from the Supreme Court as Chief Justice John Roberts authors an opinion for the ages in Trump v. Barbara. The Court went big and decided on…
- No Coffee for You · 1 h 29 min · Season 6 Episode 284In the wake of our recent discussion on private vs state action, a recent incident in New York regarding US Representative Dan Goldman’s banishment from a coffee shop because of…
- Reverence and Radicalism: Remembering Gordon Wood · 1 h 22 min · Season 6 Episode 283The tributes to Gordon Wood have been pouring in, and as promised, we spend this episode with him and his peerless body of work. Professor Steven Calabresi, Gordon’s neighbor…
- Bigotry vs Bureaucracy: State Action and Private Freedom · 1 h 30 min · Season 6 Episode 282There’s some highly questionable behavior going on in an area of Missouri, where a fringe group seeks to establish a whites-only enclave. Objectionable? We think so…
- Rosen on Liberty; Gorsuch on Gorsuch - with Jeffrey Rosen and Justice Neil Gorsuch · 1 h 17 min · Season 6 Episode 281It is an honor to introduce the initial episode of our new sister podcast: The Blessings of Liberty, hosted by Jeffrey Rosen, president emeritus of the National Constitution…
- Unrehearsed Answers · 54 min · Season 6 Episode 280It’s time for listener questions, and no surprise that current events are on everyone’s mind. We range from the supposed weaponization slush fund, to pardons; illegal military…
- Scrip for Scripture on the National Mall · 1 h 22 min · Season 6 Episode 279After weeks of tracing the background history and constitutional principles at work on religious establishment, free exercise, and equality issues, the Administration on cue…
- JFK's Wall · 1 h 13 min · Season 6 Episode 278Our journey through the centuries of religious practice, attitudes, and constitutionalism has reached the 20th century, when several presidential elections set mileposts for the…
- Fourteen Colonies, Ten Commandments · 1 h 35 min · Season 6 Episode 277As the 10 commandments case makes its way towards the Supreme Court, we add another chapter to our study of the historical events and factors that went into the American…
- Remember the Alamo Heights · 1 h 40 min · Season 6 Episode 276We continue to trace the historical origins of the constitution’s approach to religion in American government and American life. We take you on a tour around Europe at the time…
- Popes and Presidents · 1 h 35 min · Season 6 Episode 275The President has picked a fight with the Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo X. Putting aside some of the distasteful elements of language and hubris, we ask where this fits in with…
- Last Branch Stands, The Barbara Court Sits - Special Guest Sarah Isgur · 1 h 42 min · Season 6 Episode 274This week it’s Attorney Cecilia Wang’s turn, as she appears before the Supreme Court to defend birthright citizenship in the Trump v. Barbara case, and we continue to analyze…
- New World, Same Constitution · 2 h 6 min · Season 6 Episode 273Trump v. Barbara - the birthright citizenship case - reaches the Supreme Court, and we are there. Akhil and Andy are at the oral argument, and immediately afterwards we stand…
- Crib Sheets for Barbara · 1 h 7 min · Episode 272On the eve of the oral argument in Trump v. Barbara, we offer you a listener’s guide to the spectacle. What is the essence of the argument? What are the hard questions for…
- Created to Born to Barbara · 59 min · Season 6 Episode 271Akhil and Andy visit a high school in Garden City, NY, to speak with outstanding high school students about Born Equal. In the process, we trace one of America’s great credos…
- A Brief Ecosystem · 1 h 15 min · Season 6 Episode 270We’ve been mentioning the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara, and Professor Amar’s amicus brief in the case. Now we begin to analyze it in depth. We begin with the…
- Substantive Expansion - with Advisory Opinions and Divided Argument · 1 h 20 min · Season 6 Episode 269Amarica’s Constitution has joined with two other great podcasts! We’re still ourselves, but today we bring all three podcasts together to look at a recent case, Mirabelli v…
- Attorney Amar's Opening Argument · 29 min · Episode 268In this shorter-than-usual episode, you are now a Supreme Court clerk getting ready for the Trump v. Barbara case. What do you do? What do you read? We guide you. And as we think…
- Tariffs Are A Major Question - Special Guest Vikram Amar · 1 h 22 min · Season 6 Episode 267The Court has ruled Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs unconstitutional. Vik Amar, who offered important theories that appeared prominently in the opinion, joins us to explain…
- Pillorying the Post · 1 h 21 min · Season 6 Episode 266Jeff Bezos emasculated the Washington Post; now he has virtually killed it. Why? And what does this mean for the nation? What is the importance of major newspapers to the…
- Converse-1983 Is A Thing · 1 h 12 min · Season 6 Episode 265It’s becoming apparent that the theory that Professor Amar put forth 40 years ago in a now-famous law review article, Of Sovereignty And Federalism, is being taken seriously by…
- A Virtuous Republic, If You Can Keep It · 1 h 9 min · Season 6 Episode 264In a wide-ranging episode, we finish looking back - and in doing so, we look into the near future as well. The birthright citizenship case will be heard in oral argument on April…
- Five-Oh and Four Questions · 1 h 23 min · Season 6 Episode 263The look back over our five years of drama, humor, reason, and illogic continues, as perhaps the most notorious opinion of the five year period - the Trump immunity case…
- High Fives · 1 h 43 min · Season 6 Episode 262It’s five years of Akhil and Andy on Amarica’s Constitution, and our friends are lining up to talk about it. In typical fashion, it’s not just testimonials but reflections. And…
- The Minnesota Massacre · 54 min · Season 5 Episode 261A powerful and aggressive central government sends unwanted forces in huge numbers to a city where the residents oppose and resent this policy. The undertrained forces unleash…
- Venezuelan Frisbie · 1 h 21 min · Season 5 Episode 260The military capture of the Venezuelan leader, Maduro, is an event with giant international strategic, moral, economic, political, and other considerations. It also raises…
- Your Questions, Easy and Hard · 1 h 43 min · Season 5 Episode 259Our listeners have a talent for inquiry; they follow Professor Amar’s arguments every week, and come up with their own. This week, we end the year by fielding a wide range of…
- No Army At All · 1 h 13 min · Season 5 Episode 258Presidential power is abridged, for a change, by the Supreme Court in its shadow docket ruling in Trump v. Illinois. Rather than ruling in silence, however, this time the Court…
- Courage is Contagious - Special Guest Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander · 1 h 1 min · Season 5 Episode 257One of the most promising new faces in the US Congress, Representative Maggie Goodlander, joins us for a wide-ranging discussion, including the recent video assuring our troops…
- Humphrey's Execution · 1 h 22 min · Season 5 Episode 256Oral arguments took place in the highly-anticipated unitary executive case, Trump v. Slaughter. The overruling of the case that seems to govern, Humphrey’s Executor, has been…
- Balance and Check-Mate - Special Guest John Fabian Witt · 1 h 36 min · Season 5 Episode 255Secretary of Defense Hegseth is making use of his sights. He is focusing at times on Senator Mark Kelly, seeking to wreak havoc upon him for his utterances which have angered…
- The Only Only · 1 h 0 min · Season 5 Episode 254Events in the news once again intersect with Professor Amar’s past work, as a little-known aspect of a clause in the Constitution has surprising relevance to the President’s…
- The Undigested Matzo Ball · 1 h 10 min · Season 5 Episode 253We return to the tariff case and continue to hear from the justices and the advocates in their own voices from the oral argument. This time, a 20 year old argument from Vik Amar…
