Is That Even Constitutional?
by Sadena Thevarajah and Ken Thomas
Latest episode
The Right of Private College to Admit Diverse Students
The Right of Private College to Admit Diverse Students
About this podcast
It's never been a better time to understand the U.S. Constitution: what it allows, what it prohibits, and what is in the grey area. Join host Sadena Thevarajah and constitutional scholar Ken Thomas in conversation as they scrutinize recent federal administration actions, to help us better see our country's founding document for the living document that it is.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 22 episodes
- The Right of Private College to Admit Diverse Students · 24 min · Season 2 Episode 10Higher education has become a necessity for social and economic mobility in our society. This is particularly important for minority groups seeking to access the mainstream of…
- Project 2026: Stopping Dangerous Sales of Firearms · 19 min · Season 2 Episode 9According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 47,000 people died of gun-related injuries in the United States in 2023. Despite this litany of…
- Project 2026: Let shareholders limit corporate speech · 21 min · Season 2 Episode 8In Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court took individual free speech rights and added an ahistorical addition - giving these rights to corporations. The idea that such a…
- Project 2026: The Right to Reproductive Decision-Making · 18 min · Season 2 Episode 7In 1965, the Supreme Court held in Griswold v. Connecticut that the Constitution protected the right of families to use contraception. In 1973, the Court in Roe v. Wade extended…
- Project 2026: Statehood for the District of Columbia · 15 min · Season 2 Episode 7There is a deep irony that the U.S., long a leader in the promotion of democracy, offers no national representation for residents of its own capital. No other country in the…
- Project 2026: Term Limits for Justices · 18 min · Season 2 Episode 5Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life, making the Supreme Court one of the least democratic institutions in the world. Even worse, the Court now plays a political role…
- Project 2026: Make Election Day a Holiday · 12 min · Season 2 Episode 4The American people are frustrated with the American election system. As a result, the United States ranks 138 out of 172 nations in voter turnout. One of the biggest reasons…
- Project 2026: End Political Gerrymandering · 20 min · Season 2 Episode 3Gerrymandering is widely regarded as a distortion of the democratic process. Gerrymandering refers to any deliberate manipulation of electoral boundaries to favor one political…
- Project 2026: End the Modern Filibuster · 23 min · Season 2 Episode 2Democracies around the world only require a simple majority (above 50%) to pass legislation. The filibuster, which requires approval by 60% of the Senate, makes that chamber the…
- Project 2026: Take Back the Constitution · 19 min · Season 2 Episode 1For the upcoming 2026 mid-term elections, serious congressional candidates need to consider a change of approach. Rather than struggling to resolve divisive ideological issues…
- Can the Constitution Survive President Trump? · 28 min · Season 1 Episode 12On Truth Social, President Trump’s social media outlet, Trump posted a picture of himself in a crown saying “Long live the king.” Trump, however, will have a hard time subverting…
- Can President Trump Steal the Power of the Purse? · 34 min · Season 1 Episode 11In 2016, Donald Trump said "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters" In 2025, Donald Trump illegally took billions of…
- Can President Trump Fire Federal Workers? · 34 min · Season 1 Episode 7In this podcast, we interview Elizabeth Aniskevich, a litigator and a former federal employee at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Earlier this year, the Consumer Financial…
- Can President Trump Fire the Fed Chair? · 37 min · Season 1 Episode 9Can President Trump fire Jerome Powell, the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board? When bankers run central banks, economies are stable. When politicians run central banks…
- Fast Take: The Supreme Court and Firing Federal Workers · 8 min · Season 1 Episode 6On July 8, the Supreme Court lifted a district court order which barred the Trump administration from eliminating thousands of jobs across the federal government. Though an…
- Presidential Power and the Unitary Executive Theory · 36 min · Season 1 Episode 5First raised in the 1980s, the Unitary Executive Theory argues that the President should be allowed to fire the officials of all agencies, even if the positions are protected by…
- Fast Take: What’s Going on With Birthright Citizenship and Universal Injunctions?? · 13 min · Season 1 Episode 6In Trump v. Casa, the Supreme Court held that injunctions cannot be used to prohibit the Executive Branch from taking legal actions against persons or states not before the…
- How the Supreme Court Interprets the Constitution · 36 min · Season 1 Episode 4The Supreme Court will be an important factor in determining how much of the Trump agenda will be implemented. But how does the Supreme Court decide difficult cases? There are…
- Fast Take: Were the Iran Strikes Constitutional? · 7 min · Season 1 Episode 4On June 22, 2025, President Trump initiated the most significant U.S. military strike on Iranian soil since 1979, hitting nuclear sites in support of Israeli military operations…
- Can DEI Be Saved? · 41 min · Season 1 Episode 3DEI is many things to many people. So, when President Trump issued Executive Orders targeting the practice, it's implementation was chaotic, unpredictable, and ripe for legal…
