The Democracy Group

Latest Episodes:

The People Who Choose the President Jul 27, 2020

Show notes

Democracy Works podcast host and producer Jenna Spinelle leads a discussion with:

Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, founder of Equal Citizens, and host of the podcast Another Way by Lawrence Lessig. Lessig and Equal Citizens Executive Director Jason Harrow argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the electors in Washington and Colorado.
Meredith McGehee, executive director of Issue One and one of the nation’s foremost experts on Congress and ethics in politics. Issue One was part of an amicus brief filed by the Campaign Legal Center on behalf of the states. Issue One produces the Swamp Stories podcast.
Michael Baranowski, associate professor of political science at Northern Kentucky University and host of The Politics Guys, a bipartisan American politics and policy podcast. Baranowski is an expert on political institutions and discusses the practical implications of the Supreme Court's decision with Lessig in the second half of the episode.

The first half of the episode focuses on the Supreme Court's decisions in Chafalo v. Washington and Baca v. Colorado. Lessig and McGehee explain what led them to get involved in the cases and have a spirited discussion about the role special interests could play in the Electoral College.

Then, Lessig and Baranowski discuss the Supreme Court's opinion written by Justice Elena Kagan, and how to make the Electoral College more democratic though measures like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Note: Severe thunderstorms hit Washington, D.C. when we recorded this episode on July 22, 2020 and Meredith McGehee lost power halfway through. We were not able to get her back on the line before the end of the recording session. We apologize and are grateful for the time she was able to join us!

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Civic Engagement, Social Distancing, and Democracy Reform Jul 27, 2020

Show notes

“COVID, the pandemic … has really brought to bear not just the inequities and the inequalities, but also the necessity to have a much more active sense of democracy as a verb — democracy as an action that we can all be part of.”

-Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, 70 Million

Host

Richard Davies
Co-host, How Do We Fix It?
@DaviesNow

Guests

Mila Atmos
Host, Future Hindsight
@milaatmos

Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, Founder and CEO of Lantigua-Williams and Co.
Creator and Executive Producer, 70 Million
@JuleykaLantigua

Carah Ong-Whaley, Associate Director at James Madison Center for Civic Engagement at James Madison University
Co-host, Democracy Matters
@CarahOng

Lee Drutman, Senior Fellow at New America
Co-host, Politics in Question
@leedrutman

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National and International Implications of COVID-19 Jul 27, 2020

Show notes

Host

Jenna Spinelle
Communications Specialist at the McCourtney Institute for Democracy
Host, Democracy Works
@JennaSpinelle

Guests

Luke Knittig, Senior Director of Communications at the McCain Institute
Host, In The Arena
@LukeKnittig

Jeremi Suri, Mack Brown Distinguished Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas Austin
Host, This is Democracy
@JeremiSuri

Rachel Tausenfreund, Editorial Director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States
Host, Out of Order
@thousandfriend

Weston Wamp, Senior Political Strategist and Consultant at Issue One
Host, Swamp Stories
@westonwamp

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